Here’s what we know so far.
Hackers reportedly linked to the Russian government managed to hack into multiple US government agencies in what could be the largest hack of government systems since the Obama administration — or perhaps ever. Malware inserted into third-party software may have given hackers access to various government systems for months. It went undetected until last week, when a cybersecurity company that makes hacking tools discovered that its own systems were breached. Security agencies are currently assessing exactly which departments were breached and what information was accessed. So far, the Commerce Department has confirmed it was hacked, and the Treasury and State Departments, Department of Homeland Security, parts of the Pentagon, and the National Institutes of Health are reported to have been affected. There will likely be more. According to anonymous officials, the hackers are a Russian group called Cozy Bear, also known as APT29. It was also behind the hack of the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton campaign staffers during her 2016 campaign, as well as the 2014 hack of the White House and State Department’s unclassified networks. Cozy Bear is also believed to be behind recent attacks on various organizations developing Covid-19 vaccines. The group is linked to Russian intelligence, although Russia has denied any involvement — a position it maintains now. “Malicious activities in the information space contradicts the principles of the Russian foreign policy, national interests and our understanding of interstate relations,” the Russian Embassy said in a statement. “Russia does not conduct offensive operations in the cyber domain.” The Trump administration was initially reluctant to say much about the hack officially, or assign blame to a specific country. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told Breitbart Radio News on Monday that Russia may have been behind it, but it may also have been China or North Korea. Democrats had more to say. Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin called it “virtually a declaration of war by Russia on the United States,” while Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) said the classified information he received about “Russia’s cyberattack” left him feeling “deeply alarmed, in fact downright scared.” Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) came forward on Thursday to compare the attack to “Russian bombers… repeatedly flying undetected over our entire country.
