Posted on Aug 7, 2015
Pentagon computer network infiltration is latest government breach. Why don't we have more reliable cybersecurity?
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U.S. military officials said Thursday that they suspect Russian hackers infiltrated an unclassified Pentagon e-mail system used by employees of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the latest in a series of state-sponsored attacks on sensitive U.S. government computer networks.
The electronic intrusion was detected about July 25, officials said. The Pentagon immediately disabled the e-mail system, which is used by about 4,000 military and civilian personnel, in an attempt to contain the damage. The network remains offline, although officials said they hoped to restart it in the coming days.
The Defense Department disclosed the attack shortly after it occurred, but only in recent days have investigators traced it to Russia. Officials said the complexity and advanced nature of the hack strongly suggested that a foreign government was responsible.
“This attack was fairly sophisticated and has the indications . . . of having come from a state actor such as Russia,” said a U.S. official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss details of the investigation.
The cyberattack on the Joint Staff, which coordinates operations among the branches of the armed forces, is similar to one last fall that successfully penetrated unclassified e-mail systems at the White House and the State Department. In that case, U.S. officials said the trail also led to hackers thought to be working for the Russian government.
Even so, officials cautioned that it is difficult to pinpoint the origin or perpetrator of such hacks. “Attribution in this business is near impossible. Rarely are you ever able to say with 100 percent certainty” who was behind a particular incident, the official said.
The incident follows several other, more destructive cyberattacks on U.S. government networks, including devastating breaches of databases maintained by the Office of Personnel Management. U.S. officials believe hackers working for the Chinese government were responsible for those, which exposed sensitive information about more than 22 million people.
Responding to the spate of attacks, officials in Washington have said they were working to bolster the security of computer systems across the federal government. The disclosure of a successful breach of a Pentagon e-mail network, however, is likely to generate new scrutiny from Congress on the reliability of Washington’s cyberdefenses.
Read more at ...
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/us-suspects-russia-in-hack-of-pentagon-computer-network/2015/08/06/b80e1644-3c7a-11e5-9c2d-ed991d848c48_story.html?hpid=z15
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The electronic intrusion was detected about July 25, officials said. The Pentagon immediately disabled the e-mail system, which is used by about 4,000 military and civilian personnel, in an attempt to contain the damage. The network remains offline, although officials said they hoped to restart it in the coming days.
The Defense Department disclosed the attack shortly after it occurred, but only in recent days have investigators traced it to Russia. Officials said the complexity and advanced nature of the hack strongly suggested that a foreign government was responsible.
“This attack was fairly sophisticated and has the indications . . . of having come from a state actor such as Russia,” said a U.S. official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss details of the investigation.
The cyberattack on the Joint Staff, which coordinates operations among the branches of the armed forces, is similar to one last fall that successfully penetrated unclassified e-mail systems at the White House and the State Department. In that case, U.S. officials said the trail also led to hackers thought to be working for the Russian government.
Even so, officials cautioned that it is difficult to pinpoint the origin or perpetrator of such hacks. “Attribution in this business is near impossible. Rarely are you ever able to say with 100 percent certainty” who was behind a particular incident, the official said.
The incident follows several other, more destructive cyberattacks on U.S. government networks, including devastating breaches of databases maintained by the Office of Personnel Management. U.S. officials believe hackers working for the Chinese government were responsible for those, which exposed sensitive information about more than 22 million people.
Responding to the spate of attacks, officials in Washington have said they were working to bolster the security of computer systems across the federal government. The disclosure of a successful breach of a Pentagon e-mail network, however, is likely to generate new scrutiny from Congress on the reliability of Washington’s cyberdefenses.
Read more at ...
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/us-suspects-russia-in-hack-of-pentagon-computer-network/2015/08/06/b80e1644-3c7a-11e5-9c2d-ed991d848c48_story.html?hpid=z15
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Hacking
Cybersecurity
DoD
National Security
Edited 9 y ago
Posted 9 y ago
Responses: 26
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Capt Seid Waddell
GySgt Wayne A. Ekblad, but at least the forces are diverse and PC.
Effectiveness is apparently considered to be overrated these days.
Effectiveness is apparently considered to be overrated these days.
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Nothing is 100% secure. Hackers are working 24/7/365 to find ways around everything we try to throw out at them. Thankfully, the system that was hacked was an unclassified email system.
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GySgt Wayne A. Ekblad
Yes, this time it was an unclassified email system --- at least that is what we are being told --- but what about the next time? Don't get me wrong, I agree that nothing is 100% secure ... but, frankly, I'm starting to wonder if anything is secure at all.
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SGT Ben Keen
GySgt Wayne A. Ekblad - Oh I agree. I wasn't trying to give a free pass to the DoD and the Pentagon for having this happen. You are right, this time it's an unclassified email system, lord knows what it will be the next time and we know there will be a next time.
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CPT Pedro Meza
GySgt Wayne A. Ekblad - Nothing in electronics is secure for the simple facts that electrical signals will follow paths that are yet discovered or paths made after the obstruction has been weaken.
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"The Song Remains the Same". 21 years in Electronic and Information Warfare and some things never change. Technology gets better but that just offers up different challenges.
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The Chinese have been stealing tech from us FOR DECADES! We have only recently understood the danger, and unfortunately seem to be in a constant state of "catch-up". It doesn't help that the Feds don't really want to do what is necessary to get on top of the problem and own the domain as the new "high ground".
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Speaking as a Cyber Professional on this forum I can give you a brief reason what the problem is and respond to some of the posts throughout this thread. Put simply, the reason for our security lapses are due to poor security training to the entire workforce (i.e. DoD), the fact security has up until recently been considered an afterthought, and in some cases people we put our trust into who in turn betray our trust.
The DoD has been conducting penetration testing for many years (over 20 I can confirm) and no this is not the only answer. Snowden, for example, was an insider and an administrator which gave him the access and the knowledge to do what he did. No amount of penetration testing/red teaming would have prevented him from taking the information he currently has. Additionally, we unfortunately have idiots working around us who, despite having taken the training, can't seem to avoid getting phished, socially engineered, or plugging in infected devices into our networks.
The answer; continue penetration testing (because it absolutely is necessary and it does help), continue training, and enforce smart policies which prevent information leaks. But most of all, start hammering those who fail to adhere to or enforce policies. Once we reduce the "white noise" out there, our cyber experts can in turn focus on the truly significant events and deny the more advanced cyber attacks from being successful.
The DoD has been conducting penetration testing for many years (over 20 I can confirm) and no this is not the only answer. Snowden, for example, was an insider and an administrator which gave him the access and the knowledge to do what he did. No amount of penetration testing/red teaming would have prevented him from taking the information he currently has. Additionally, we unfortunately have idiots working around us who, despite having taken the training, can't seem to avoid getting phished, socially engineered, or plugging in infected devices into our networks.
The answer; continue penetration testing (because it absolutely is necessary and it does help), continue training, and enforce smart policies which prevent information leaks. But most of all, start hammering those who fail to adhere to or enforce policies. Once we reduce the "white noise" out there, our cyber experts can in turn focus on the truly significant events and deny the more advanced cyber attacks from being successful.
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Our IT people must have "KICK ME" signs taped to their backs.
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Hopefully they saw something that scared the hell out of them.
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SrA Daniel Hunter
TSgt Hunter Logan - You know someone had a picture of Rosie O'Donald on the computer.
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We can and must do better in protecting all digital information. There is no excuse this happened again
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Just heard...Joint Staff emails..not good
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