Treasury email accounts hacked, senator says

WASHINGTON — Dozens of email accounts at the Treasury Department were compromised in a massive breach of U.S. government agencies being blamed on Russia, with hackers breaking into systems used by the department’s highest-ranking officials, a senator said after being briefed onthe matter.

Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., provided newdetailsof the hackfollowing abriefing to the Senate Finance Committeeby the IRS and Treasury Department.

Wyden said Monday that though there is noindication that taxpayer data wascompromised, the hack “appears to be significant,” including the compromise of dozens of email accounts and access to the Departmental Offices division of the Treasury Department, which the senator said was home to its highest-ranking officials.

In addition, the breach appears to involve the theft of encryption keys, Wyden said.

“Treasury still does not know all of the actions taken by hackers, or precisely whatinformation wasstolen,” Wyden said in a statement.

It is also not clear what the hackers intend to do with any emails they may have accessed. ATreasury Department spokeswoman declined to comment on Wyden’s statement.

Treasury was among the earliest known agencies reported to have been affected in a breach that now encompasses a broad spectrum of departments. The effects and consequences of the hack are still being assessed, though the Department of Homeland Security’s cybersecurity arm said in a statement that the intrusion posed a “grave” risk to government and private networks.

In the Treasury Department’s case, Wyden said, the breach began in July.

But experts believe the overall hacking operation began months earlier when a malicious code was slipped into updates to software that monitors networks of businesses and governments.