The US Department of State (State Department) closed the email systems they used for the weekend after suspicions of a breach, according to the Associated Press.
The activity, detected by State Department systems technicians, raised concerns and resulted in the shutdown of the Department's mail servers. Technicians say the suspicious activity began in October, around the time of the attack on the White House. Other government agencies, such as the U.S. Postal Service and the National Weather Service, have reported similar attacks. It is not yet clear whether the attacks are connected.
An official of the Ministry who spoke to the Associated Press insisted that the tiered systems were not affected by the attack. The sure thing is that the simple email system, and access to public websites of the Department, have been affected and have been shut down.
The Associated Press reports that the State Department is expected to issue a statement on the matter today Monday or Tuesday, after the security improvements that have been implemented.
According to the newspaper Washington Post, the shutdown of the State Department's mailservers led the employees at the ministry to use Gmail accounts for their communication.
Source: secnews.gr
