US Department of Homeland Security becomes latest target of cyberattack: Report

Just a day after Washington revealed a foreign government might have coordinated the hack, a US media reported on December 13 that the US Department of Homeland Security was the third federal department to face a significant cyberattack. The Washington Post had cited unnamed officials who confirmed that the DHS, the department responsible for protecting the United States from online and offline attacks, was also added to the growing list of the targets in the cyberattack including US Treasury and Commerce departments. 

Furthermore, a statement from the US Department of Homeland Security on December 13 did not confirm the report but acknowledged the “cyber breaches” across the federal government and informed on closet working with its partners in both public and private sector on the federal response. Meanwhile, in a separate email sent by Security Council spokesman John Ullyot to CNBC, he acknowledged the report of cyberattacks and said that they are “taking necessary steps” to identify and remedy the issues budding from the situation. 

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CISA order on SolarWinds Orion IT products

Attached to the DHS, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) on December 12 reportedly ordered the federal agencies to stop using SolarWinds Orion IT products in the wake of the reports that cyberattackers had used a recent update to get access to internal communications. CISA Acting Director Brandon Wales had reportedly urged all agency partners in both private and public sectors to “assess their exposure to this compromise and to secure their networks.”

Even SolarWinds had admitted this weekend that hackers had exploited a backdoor in the update of its software that was released between March and June this year. The US media outlet had linked the hack that occurred over the weekend to a group working for the Russian foreign intelligence service. However, the FBI has reportedly launched an investigation into the group that is known as APT29 or ‘Cozy Bear’ among the private sector cybersecurity firms. 

These hackers are reportedly believed to have targeted the US State Department, Joint Chiefs of Staff and the White House networks during the administration of former US President Barack Obama. The same Russian group is also reportedly thought to have carried out the break-in during 2016 US Presidential Election. 

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