RuSSIA GOT CYBERINTEL IN NSA HACK
RUSSIAN-EMPLOYED hackers stole crucial intelligence on how the United States protects from cyberattacks and infiltrates foreign networks, according to a report.
The spies accessed the information from a National Security Agency contractor who took classified data and put it on his home computer, The Wall Street Journal reported. They went into the files through antivirus software from Kaspersky Lab, a Moscow-based company.
Hackers breached the contractor’s computer some time in 2015, but the NSA didn’t find out until last spring, the paper reported.
The information could give Russia a road map on how the U.S. defends against cyberattacks, The Journal suggested, and could hinder the NSA in its own work.
And it’s the first reported time a hacker used Kaspersky’s software to spy on a U.S. agency.
Best Buy pulled Kaspersky’s products from its shelves in early September over worries the Moscow-based company could be influenced by the Kremlin.
Several agencies are probing the depth to which the regime of Vladimir Putin (photo inset) tried to meddle in last year’s election. Intelligence agencies have concluded it hacked the Democratic National Committee as well as emails for members of Hillary Clinton’s campaign.
That came after the U.S. government stopped listing Kaspersky as an approved vendor for its agencies in July. Kaspersky was at one point authorized for a number of agencies, including several military branches, along with the State, Defense and Justice departments.
Congress also warned that month that the firm’s software could be a conduit for “nefarious activities against the United States,” according to Reuters.
“Whether the information is credible or not, NSA’s policy is never to comment on affiliate or personnel matters,” the NSA spokesman said.
Neither the contractor’s identity nor his firm were immediately known. It’s likely he took the classified information home to keep working after the normal workday, officials told The Journal.
He was aware removing the top-secret intel is a violation of NSA rules, but isn’t suspected of knowingly helping another nation. Whether he faced punishment in the ongoing investigation is unclear.
The software is believed to have tipped off the Russian-hired hackers that files from the NSA were put onto the computer, the report said. Once they got that warning signal, the hackers scoured the computer for the key NSA spy tools.
Investigators are looking to figure out if Kaspersky’s engineers designed it to weed out such files, the newspaper noted. Kaspersky told The Journal in a statement that it “has not been provided any information or evidence substantiating this alleged incident, and as a result, we must assume that this is another example of a false accusation.”