US nuclear weapons agency hacked in suspected Russian cyberattack

THE US nuclear weapons agency was hacked as part of a suspected Russian cyberattack that struck several federal government agencies, it emerged last night.

The Department of Energy and the National Nuclear Security Administration have warned Congress that networks they control were breached, including at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, which conducts the government’s most sensitive and advanced nuclear research, Politico reported.

Evidence of the attack was also found in the networks of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the Office of Secure Transportation which moves nuclear materials. The suspected Kremlin hackers are believed to have gained access to networks by installing malicious code in a software program from Solarwinds Corp.

While Donald Trump, the president, has yet to publicly address the hack, Joe Biden, the president- elect, issued a statement yesterday on “what appears to be a massive cybersecurity breach affecting potentially thousands of victims, including US companies and federal government entities”.

He wrote: “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.”

Thomas Bossert, Mr Trump’s former homeland security adviser, warned that a Russian cyberattack could take more than six months to resolve.

As the scale of the attack continues to emerge, US intelligence agencies have ordered departments to “disconnect or power down” all equipment from SolarWinds. The US State Department, Treasury and Commerce Department, Homeland Security and parts of the Pentagon are all said to have been affected.

Solarwinds’ Orion software is also used by UK departments including GCHQ. The National Cyber Security Centre is investigating any UK impact.