US government under 'significant, ongoing' cyber-attack: Washington

The US government has confirmed that a significant hacking campaign affected its networks and said the attack was “ongoing”.

The attack is believed to be the biggest cyber-raid against American officials in years.

Hackers have been monitoring internal email traffic at the Treasury and Commerce departments, repots said, citing people who said they feared the hacks uncovered so far may be the tip of the iceberg.

“This is a developing situation," said a joint statement issued by the FBI, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI).

The joint statement said that "while we continue to work to understand the full extent of this campaign, we know this compromise has affected networks within the federal government."

Washington has once again pointed finger at Russia, but Moscow said it had “nothing to do with” the hacking.

The Pentagon and State departments were also hacked as part of the alleged espionage attack.

“For operational security reasons, the Pentagon will not comment on specific mitigation measures or specify systems that may have been impacted,” spokesperson Russell Goemaere said. “The Pentagon is aware of the reports and is currently assessing the impact.”

Massive espionage attack reportedly targets US Departments of Defense, State

The US Defense and State departments have reportedly been hacked as part of an alleged espionage attack.

“Once again, I can reject these accusations,” the Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.

“If for many months the Americans couldn’t do anything about it, then, probably, one shouldn’t unfoundedly blame the Russians for everything” he added.

US national security adviser, Robert O’Brien, cut short a trip to the Middle East and Europe on Tuesday and returned to Washington to run crisis meetings over the situation.

Russia dismisses allegations of involvement in US Treasury email hacking

Russia denies allegations that hackers working for the Kremlin have broke into computer systems at the US Treasury and Commerce Departments.

Technology company SolarWinds Corp, which was the key stepping-stone used by the hackers, said up to 18,000 of its customers had downloaded a compromised software update that allowed hackers to spy unnoticed on businesses and agencies for almost nine months.

In the meantime, the FBI, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence founded an urgent group -- the Cyber Unified Coordination Group -- to coordinate the government’s responses to the developing cyber-attack.

Lawmakers have called on the White House to declassify what it knows, and what it does not know about the recent hack.

“Stunning,” Democratic senator Richard Blumenthal said on Tuesday. “Today’s classified briefing on Russia’s cyberattack left me deeply alarmed, in fact downright scared. Americans deserve to know what’s going on.”

The hack attack came despite the US installation of defensive sensors all around the country to deter such raids.

US has intensified cyberwar on Russia, China, Iran: NYT

The New York Times says the intensification is under the pretext of deflecting alleged electoral interference.

Lawmakers have called on the White House to declassify what it knows, and what it does not know about the recent hack.

“Stunning,” Democratic senator Richard Blumenthal said on Tuesday. “Today’s classified briefing on Russia’s cyberattack left me deeply alarmed, in fact downright scared. Americans deserve to know what’s going on.”

The hack attack came despite the US installation of defensive sensors all around the country to deter such raids.

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