On Sunday, the US announced that it had fallen victim to a cyberattack, which is claimed to be related to Russia.
"We can confirm that there was a breach at one of our offices," the Commerce Department in a statement to CNN. "We have asked CISA and the FBI to investigate and cannot comment further at this time."
The incident was also confirmed by the Department of Homeland Security's Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency, which told CNN: "We are working closely with our agency partners regarding the activity recently discovered on government networks."
“CISA is providing technical assistance to affected entities as they work to identify and mitigate potential compromises,” the statement continued.
The data breachwas first reported by Reuters.
The Washington Post reported Sunday that the Commerce Department was targeted by Russian government hackers , and that the Treasury Department and other government entities were also targeted, according to sources familiar with the matter. The FBI investigation also found that the same hacking group also breached cybersecurity firm FireEye , which last week disclosed an attack that compromised its so-called “Red Team” tools, which it uses to protect its clients, including government ones.
The attack on FireEye and those reported on Sunday are related, a source familiar with the matter said. The evidence suggests that Russia has adopted a strategy of cyberattacks and espionage against both the public and private sectors in the United States.
“These types of attacks that exploit trusted relationships are extremely difficult to detect and address in real time,” the source said, adding that while the Commerce and Treasury Departments are the victims that have been identified so far, “there is no doubt that there are more.” Last week, the National Security Agency issued an advisory warning about Russian state actors who had access to data on protected systems and called for several government networks, including those of the Defense Department, to be immediately patched.
