It was clear from the start that a cyberattack by suspected Russian hackers aimed at several US government agencies was going to be bad. One clue: US National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien cut short a trip overseas to rush back to Washington to help manage the crisis.
On Thursday, the reality of just how sprawling — and potentially damaging — the breach might be came into sharper focus.
It started with a bulletin from the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), warning that the hackers were sophisticated, patient and well-resourced, representing a “grave risk” to federal, state and local governments, as well as critical infrastructure and the private sector.
Bloomberg News reported that at least three state governments were hacked, which followed reports of other breaches: the city network in Austin, Texas, and the US nuclear weapons agency. Software giant Microsoft Corp also said its systems were exposed.
The US Department of Energy and its National Nuclear Security Administration, which maintains the country’s nuclear stockpile, said that the malware was isolated to business networks and did not affect national security functions.
Nonetheless, the effect of the revelations was confirmation that no single person or agency is certain of exactly what the hackers had infiltrated, let alone the full extent of what was taken.
US president-elect Joe Biden interrupted a series of high-profile appointment announcements to weigh in.
“I want to be clear: My administration will make cybersecurity a top priority at every level of government — and we will make dealing with this breach a top priority from the moment we take office,” Biden said.
So far, US President Donald Trump has not commented on the attack.
The hackers installed what is known as a backdoor in widely used software from Texas-based SolarWinds Corp, whose customers include myriad government agencies and Fortune 500 companies.
That malicious backdoor, which was installed by 18,000 SolarWinds customers, allowed the hackers access to their computer networks.
US authorities — and governments around the world — are only now beginning to uncover who was unlucky enough to receive the hackers’ full attention.
Microsoft said it detected the backdoor in SolarWinds’ software in its “environment” and had “isolated and removed” it.
The company said that none of its customer data nor its products were accessed or used to further attacks on others.
In a blog post, Microsoft said it had identified more than 40 customers that the hackers had “targeted more precisely and compromised,” including “security and other technology firms,” think tanks and government contractors, in addition to government agencies.
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
China's military today said it began joint army, navy and rocket force exercises around Taiwan to "serve as a stern warning and powerful deterrent against Taiwanese independence," calling President William Lai (賴清德) a "parasite." The exercises come after Lai called Beijing a "foreign hostile force" last month. More than 10 Chinese military ships approached close to Taiwan's 24 nautical mile (44.4km) contiguous zone this morning and Taiwan sent its own warships to respond, two senior Taiwanese officials said. Taiwan has not yet detected any live fire by the Chinese military so far, one of the officials said. The drills took place after US Secretary
THUGGISH BEHAVIOR: Encouraging people to report independence supporters is another intimidation tactic that threatens cross-strait peace, the state department said China setting up an online system for reporting “Taiwanese independence” advocates is an “irresponsible and reprehensible” act, a US government spokesperson said on Friday. “China’s call for private individuals to report on alleged ‘persecution or suppression’ by supposed ‘Taiwan independence henchmen and accomplices’ is irresponsible and reprehensible,” an unnamed US Department of State spokesperson told the Central News Agency in an e-mail. The move is part of Beijing’s “intimidation campaign” against Taiwan and its supporters, and is “threatening free speech around the world, destabilizing the Indo-Pacific region, and deliberately eroding the cross-strait status quo,” the spokesperson said. The Chinese Communist Party’s “threats