29 October 2014

Maybe now they'll do something


Sam Frizell has a Time article about the most recent hack:
Hackers, believed to be employed by the Russian government, breached White House computer networks in recent weeks, temporarily disrupting services.
Citing unnamed sources, The New York Times reported there was no evidence that hackers had breached classified networks or that any of the systems were damaged. Intranet or VPN access was shut off for a period, but the email system was never down. The breach was discovered two to three weeks ago, after US officials were alerted to it by an unnamed ally.
“On a regular basis, there are bad actors out there who are attempting to achieve intrusions into our system,” a White House official told the NYT. “This is a constant battle for the government and our sensitive government computer systems, so it’s always a concern for us that individuals are trying to compromise systems and get access to our networks.”
Cybersecurity firms in recent weeks have identified NATO, the Ukrainian government, and US defense contractors as targets of Russian hackers thought to be working for the government.
The New York Times has the same story:
Hackers recently breached an unclassified computer network used by President Obama’s senior staff, a White House official said recently, prompting countermeasures by the administration that caused temporary system outages.
Administration officials said the attack did not appear to be aimed at destruction of either data or hardware, or to take over other systems at the White House. That strongly suggests that the hackers’ intention was either to probe and map the unclassified White House system, find entry points where they connect to other system, or conduct fairly standard espionage.
That means it would be different from the kind of attack that Iran launched two years against the computer systems of the Saudi company Aramco, and would be more in the style of the kind of attacks that Russia and China have used over the years against United States government targets.
Some White House staff members lost their connections to the system “as a result of measures we have taken to defend our networks”, the official said. 
Rico says somebody has to call Putin and tell him to stop this shit...

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