The US State Department's email server fell victim to a data breach that affected less than 1% of the workforce.
Employees affected by the hack were notified, but it appears the email containing classified information was not compromised.
According to the breach notification sent to the Ministry's workforce, «there is ongoing research and we are working with partner organizations to conduct a full assessment. We will also examine the final detail if necessary».
The researchers, among other things, told the employees the criticality of the data and information sent through their emails as well as the avoidance of sending such types of information.
Informatively, the team of senators requested statistics regarding the number of security attacks the State Department had to face over the past three years.
The most concerning aspect of the case was the complete absence of multi-factor authentication systems for high-privilege access accounts with access to the State Department's network.
As detailed in the letter to the state secretary, Mike Pompeo, the assessment by researchers of the General Service Administration (GSA) revealed that the Foreign Ministry managed to conduct MFA checks on only 11% of all required devices.
The Inspector General also stated that emails, applications and the Department's requests can be breached very easily by hackers targeting the country's Foreign Ministry.
