Cyber ​​attack against the United States | The incredible and massive hack against the government and about which Trump has said nothing | WORLD

It was the end of October when Dutchman Victor Gevers got access to the Twitter account of Donald Trump. He didn’t do it until the seventh try. The key was incredibly predictable: maga2020, the little acronym for their ‘Make America Great Again’ tagline. The president did not have double verification and almost like games Gevers managed to break through the security of the president U.S without him noticing.

Trump was lucky. Gevers is considered an ‘ethical hacker’ in the Netherlands and immediately warned authorities to warn how easy it was to access the White House chief’s super-used Twitter account.

The same luck did not have the dozens of federal government agencies and secretariats who were victims of massive information hacking for months, one of the most serious cases of any US government and just confirmed Thursday by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA, for its acronym in English).

Among those affected are none other than departments of State, Finance, Trade, National Security and Energy, which protects nuclear weapons, which according to officials of that portfolio are not endangered.

While the CISA has not provided further details, it has pointed out that the cyber attack “poses a serious threat to the federal government and state, local, tribal and territorial governments, as well as critical infrastructure entities and other private organizations.”

How did it happen?

According to what happened through the US media, the attack started in March when hackers took advantage of an update to the Orion control software developed by the Texas company Solar Winds. This software is used by hundreds of governments around the world, as well as thousands of companies monitoring critical infrastructure. The hack took several months before it was discovered by FireEye, a computer security group.

Solar Winds reported that up to 18,000 customers, including major US companies and government agencies, had downloaded software updates, allowing hackers to access email exchanges.

The CISA report notes with concern that not only did those responsible use Orion in the massive ‘hack’, but it has not yet been discovered what other methods they could have used.

Was it the Russians?

The investigation is now focused on knowing who was behind the cyber attack. While the CISA would not designate anyone responsible, it pointed out that it is a “patient, focused adversary with significant financial resources who carried out activities in victims’ networks over a long period of time.

However, “The New York Times” revealed that US intelligence agencies have told Congress that they believe an elite Russian intelligence agency is responsible for the hacking.

Allegation that has, of course, been denied by Vladimir Putin’s government. “If there have been attacks for months and the Americans can’t do anything about it, it probably isn’t worth blaming the Russians directly and unfoundedly. We had nothing to do with it “Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

SolarWinds has indicated that the operation has been carried out “by an outside nation-state and intended as a limited, highly targeted and manually executed attack. “

Microsoft President Brad Smith also noted that the methods used bear the mark of a state actor.

“This is a very worrying issue because it means that despite all safeguards, the systems in these offices are vulnerable. Over time, the FBI’s conclusions will come out as to what could have been the origin, but they will also have to take action against the vulnerability of these systems, because not only the Russians but the Chinese as well, so this is getting serious. national security issue planned. for the United States “, the international analyst Francisco Belaunde Mattosian responds to this newspaper.

Trump in silence

It features in both, while initial allegations point to Russia as the source of the hack, President Donald Trump has not come to the front to comment on it. On the contrary, the head of the White House continues to focus on the claim that he was the real winner of the last election.

The president’s response is not surprising given that he benefited from Russian interference in the 2016 elections and because he preferred not to compete with his Russian counterpart in his tenure.

“Trump is more focused on trying to change the outcome of the last election than on this issue, which he would rather not attach importance because the Russians are also involved”Belaunde notes. “It’s a consistent stance from Trump, because from the start he said the Russians issue was a lie because the interference in the 2016 campaign actually favored him”he adds.

Mitt Romney, a Republican senator who is highly critical of Trump, emphasized the “Alarming vulnerability of the United States” and criticized “President Trump’s Unforgivable Silence and Passivity”. “It’s as if Russian bombers have repeatedly flown all over our country without being noticed,” listed on Twitter.

For his part, President-elect Joe Biden said in a statement that he had already informed his transition team about the matter.

“There is still a lot we don’t know, but what we do know is very worrying”, said the Democrat, taking office January 20. “My government will make cybersecurity a priority at all levels of government and we will make responding to this cyber attack a priority once we take office.”

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