Washington – US authorities on Thursday raised the alarm about a breach of computer systems around the world that officials suspect was committed by Russian hackers, with the country’s national cybersecurity agency warning that it poses a “serious” risk to government and private networks. .
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) said in its most detailed comments to date that the breach compromised both government agencies and “critical infrastructure” in an advanced attack that was difficult to detect and will be difficult to reverse.
CISA has not said what agencies or infrastructure were breached or what information obtained in an attack that it previously said appeared to have started in March.
“This threatening actor has shown sophistication and complex trading in these breaches,” the agency said in an unusual warning. “CISA expects that removing the threat actor from compromised environments will be very complex and challenging.”
The agency said earlier that the perpetrators had used network management software from Texas-based SolarWinds to infiltrate computer networks. The new warning said the attackers may have used other methods as well.
The US has not publicly blamed Russia for the invaders. SolarWinds said it had been informed that the culprit is considered an “outside nation-state,” but has not independently identified those responsible. Current and former US officials have said early evidence points to the Kremlin.
President-elect Joe Biden, who will take office in just over a month, said in a statement that the burglaries were “a major concern” and pledged to impose “significant charges on those responsible for such malicious attacks.”
“We have learned in recent days of a seemingly massive cybersecurity breach potentially affecting thousands of victims, including US companies and federal government agencies,” said the president-elect. “I have instructed my team to learn as much as possible about this breach, and Vice President-elect Harris and I are grateful to the officials who briefed our team on their findings and who are working day and night to respond to this attack. comment. “