Politico | Sprawling hack of US federal agencies spurs alarm in White House
- Breaches of agencies believed to be the work of Russia, US official says
- Hacks prompted an emergency meeting of the National Security Council
This story is published in a content partnership with POLITICO. It was originally reported by Eric Geller on politico.com on December 10, 2020.
Hackers from a foreign nation-state have breached multiple federal agencies, including the Treasury Department and the Commerce Department’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration, in a months-long campaign that has stirred concerns of the highest levels of the federal government.
While the full scope and significance of the breaches remain unclear, their discovery prompted an emergency meeting Saturday of the White House’s National Security Council, according to a US official who requested anonymity to discuss an ongoing incident. A second US official said the attack is believed to be the work of the Russian government, a link also made in multiple news reports Sunday night.
The intrusions of the government networks involved a sophisticated compromise of federal workers’ Microsoft email accounts, the US official said. Microsoft’s email and office software is commonly used throughout the federal government.
“It’s not entirely certain what vulnerability they’re using, how they got in,” the official said, “but it continues to be a problem.”