US agencies, firms scramble to secure hacked networks
WASHINGTON— U.S. government agencies and private companies rushed Monday to secure their computer networks following the disclosure of a sophisticated and long-running cyberespionage intrusion that experts said almost certainly was carried out by a foreign state.
It was not clear who was responsible for the intrusion, though it was reportedly conducted by Russia, and the extent of the damage is not known.
The potential threat was significant enough that the Department of Homeland Security’s cybersecurity unit directed all federal agencies to remove compromised network management software. Thousands of companies also were expected to do the same.
Whatwasstriking about the operation was its potential scope as well as the manner in which the perpetrators managed to pierce cyberdefenses and gain access to email and internal files at the Treasury and Commerce departments and potentially elsewhere. It was stark evidence of the vulnerability of even supposedly secure government networks, even after well-known previous attacks.
“It’s a reminder that offense is easier than defense and we still have a lot of work to do,” said Suzanne Spaulding, a former U.S. cybersecurity official who is now a senior adviser to the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
The campaign came to light when cybersecurity firm FireEye learned it had been breached. FireEye would not say who it suspected, though many experts suspected Russia given the level of skill involved, and alerted that foreign governments and major corporations were also compromised.
U.S. authorities acknowledged that federal agencies were part of the breach Sunday, providing few details.
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, known as CISA, said in an unusual directive that the widely used network software SolarWinds had been compromised and should be removed from any system using it.
The national cybersecurity agencies of Britain and Ireland issued similar alerts.
SolarWinds is used by hundreds of thousands of organizations around the world, including most Fortune 500 companies and multiple U.S. federal agencies.
The perpetrators were able to embed malware in a security update issued by the company, based in Austin, Texas. Onceinside, they could impersonate system administrators and have total access to the infected networks, experts said.
“Quite honestly, myheart sank whenIsaw some of the details, just the amount of information they could potentially have if they are reading everyone’s emails and they are accessing sensitive files within places like Treasury or Commerce,” said Ben Johnson, a former National Security Agency cyber-engineer whois nowchief technology officer of software security firm Obsidian.
The Washington Post, citing unnamed sources, said the attack was carried out by Russian government hackers who go by the nicknames APT29or Cozy Bear and are part of that nation’s foreign intelligence service.
U.S. officials have declined to say whothey believe is responsible.
National Security Council spokesman John Ullyot said Monday only that the Trumpadministration was working with the CISA, U.S. intelligence agencies, the FBI and government departments that were affected to coordinate a response to whoever was behind it.
Microsoft cybersecurity researchers Mondaytied the hacks to “nation-state activity at significant scale,” aimed at both government and the private sector.