Donald Trump silent as suspected Russian cyberattack poses ‘grave’ threat to US

A sophisticated cyberattack on US government agencies and private companies that was revealed this week poses a “grave risk” and thwarting it will be “highly complex”, the US computer security agency said. President-elect Joe Biden on Thursday expressed “great concern” over the computer breach while Utah Senator Mitt Romney blamed Russia and slammed what he called “inexcusable silence” from the White House. The US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) said US government agencies, critical infrastructure entities, and private sector organisations had been targeted by what it called an “advanced persistent threat actor”. CISA did not identify who was behind the malware attack but private security companies pointed a finger at hackers linked to the Russian government. Sprawling hack of US federal agencies spurs alarm in White House US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo also suggested involvement by Moscow on Monday, saying the Russian government had made repeated attempts to breach US government networks. Romney likened the cyberattack to as if “Russian bombers have been repeatedly flying undetected over our entire country”. He said it highlighted “alarming US vulnerability” plus “cyber warfare weakness” and “glaringly inadequate cyber defences”. The 2012 Republican presidential candidate condemned what he called “inexcusable silence and inaction from the White House” of President Donald Trump. Tech giant Microsoft, which has helped respond to the breach, revealed late Thursday that it had identified more than 40 government agencies, think tanks, non-governmental organisations and IT companies infiltrated by the hackers. It said four in five were in the United States – nearly half of them tech companies with victims also in Canada, Mexico, Belgium, Spain, the United Kingdom, Israel and the United Arab Emirates. The Energy Department and its National Nuclear Security Administration, which maintains America’s nuclear stockpile, were targeted, according to a person familiar with the matter. An ongoing investigation has found the hack didn’t affect “mission-essential national security functions”, Shaylyn Hynes, a Department of Energy spokeswoman, said. Hacker cracked Trump’s Twitter account by guessing password was ‘maga2020!’ “At this point, the investigation has found that the malware has been isolated to business networks only,” Hynes said. The hack of the nuclear agency was reported earlier by Politico. CISA said the computer intrusions began in at least March 2020 and the actor behind them had “demonstrated patience, operational security and complex tradecraft”. “This threat poses a grave risk,” CISA said in a statement, adding that it “expects that removing this threat actor from compromised environments will be highly complex and challenging for organisations”. Biden, who is to be sworn in as president on January 20, said the breach affected “potentially thousands of victims, including US companies and federal government entities”. “My administration will make cybersecurity a top priority at every level of government – and we will make dealing with this breach a top priority,” he said. “We need to disrupt and deter our adversaries from undertaking significant cyberattacks in the first place,” Biden said. “We will do that by, among other things, imposing substantial costs on those responsible for such malicious attacks. “Our adversaries should know that, as president, I will not stand idly by in the face of cyber assaults on our nation.” According to CISA, the attackers managed to breach computer networks using enterprise management network software made by the Texas-based IT company SolarWinds. How hackers used obscure software maker to attack top US agencies Hackers reportedly installed malware on software used by the US Treasury Department and the Commerce Department, allowing them to view internal email traffic. SolarWinds said up to 18,000 customers, including government agencies and Fortune 500 companies, had downloaded compromised software updates, allowing hackers to spy on email exchanges. After the attack was detected, CISA ordered federal agencies to power down the breached software. “This is looking like it’s the worst hacking case in the history of America,” a US official said. “They got into everything.” The FBI has opened an investigation to identify those responsible for the hack and emergency discussions have been held at the White House to discuss the government’s response. US National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien cut short a trip to the Middle East and Europe this week to deal with the fallout from the breach. Agence France-Presse, Associated Press, Bloomberg