Justice Department also hacked by Russians in the ongoing cyberespionage campaign, officials said

[Zorro]

Source: Washington Post

The Justice Department has become the latest known victim of Russian hackers, who are engaged in an ongoing campaign of cyberespionage that has afflicted federal agencies and the private sector.

A department spokesman on Wednesday said that the department’s Office of the Chief Information Officer, which handles network security, learned on Dec. 24 of malicious activity linked to the hacking campaign.

The intrusions into other federal agencies and technology firms were discovered earlier last month, and in the Justice Department’s case involved its unclassified Office 365 email system, spokesman Marc Raimondi said.

Office 365 email is hosted on Microsoft’s Azure cloud — or servers operated by the tech giant.

“After learning of the malicious activity, the OCIO eliminated the identified method by which the actor was accessing the O365 email environment,” Raimondi said in a statement.

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/justice-department-hit-russian-hackers/2021/01/06/d01cc6aa-5050-11eb-b96e-0e54447b23a1_story.html

[twodogsbarking]

1. Gee I hope my data is safe

but I know better.

[TomCADem]

3. Trump's approach to intelligence agencies is crippling the response to the likely Russian hack

It is tough to respond to any attacks from Russia when you have a President who goes ape shit if a reference to Russia is made.

https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/06/opinions/trump-intelligence-approacah-cripples-russia-hack-response-london/index.html

As a long-serving CIA operations officer, former chief of station and manager at one time overseeing the employment of cyber tools, I think it's fair to say that the digital landscape is perhaps as difficult to navigate as any military or intelligence battlefield we have ever encountered.

But today's problem is not that the Russians are that good, but that we failed to leverage our considerable capabilities and advantages. Under President Trump, intelligence community assessments and warnings about Russia's actions, including political meddling and cyberattacks, were at best watered down, if not obstructed or withheld.

The investigation being led by John Durham at the behest of former attorney general William Barr and the President's wholesale purge of inspectors general and his replacement of intelligence community leaders willing to speak truth to power has left an intelligence community reluctant to provoke a vindictive commander in chief who, along with allies and advisers, characterizes divergent opinions as deep state attacks.

Individual agencies have proceeded cautiously and spoken with greater equivocation due to the lack of advocacy and stewardship needed from Acting Director of National Intelligence Richard Grenell and then DNI Ratcliffe, instead in many cases defending the President's false narratives and complying with his mercurial dictates.

[Chakaconcarne]

2. they probably left the backdoor unlocked.