Russian hackers 'smuggled' malware into emails sent to the Pentagon.
The hackers are believed to be linked to Russia.They sent numerous emails containing malware to US Department of Defense employees, disguised as press releases from a non-profit organization.
Photo: Reuters |
The Daily Beast (USA) reported on July 19th that it received information from the US Department of Defense that at least five Pentagon computer accounts had been infected with malware. These phishing emails were disguised as emails from the National Endowment for Democracy (based in Washington, D.C.) and were sent from an infected server. When recipients clicked on the links in the emails, their computers would download malicious code.
The Pentagon announcement stated that this latest attack is related to the hacking of the White House and State Department computer networks announced in April. Russian hackers are believed to have infiltrated the White House computer systems for months in 2014, forcing the White House to shut down its systems for several days.
Computer security expert Michael Adams of the U.S. Special Operations Command assessed that the hackers used extremely sophisticated and hard-to-detect techniques, "like a stealth fighter jet, silently destroying the target completely before the enemy realizes they are under attack."
The Pentagon discovered the hacking incidents on July 8, according to an email sent to White House and State Department staff on July 17. The notification did not specify the information stolen or list the employees who were targeted.
Meanwhile, the National Endowment for Democracy has not yet responded to the incident.
A Defense Department official said there are thousands of attacks targeting the department every day, and protective measures have been taken to prevent them.
In 2014, the U.S. government suffered several cyberattacks, including a breach of the State Department's email network in November and a data theft from the Office of Personnel Management. The Obama administration announced in June that all government agencies must encrypt their websites by December 31, 2016.
(According to TNO)
