The large-scale cyberattack on US federal institutions most likely originated from Russia. This is stated in a joint statement by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the FBI and the US Infrastructure and Cyber Security Agency, TASS reports.
It is noted that at this stage of the investigation “it has been determined that the attack is likely of Russian origin and is responsible for most or all of the recently discovered, ongoing cyberattacks on both state and non-state networks.”
Washington believes that the purpose of this attack was an attempt to obtain some kind of intelligence.
Earlier it was reported that the scale of cyberattacks on US government agencies was much larger than anticipated. The hacks could have affected 250 internal networks in which the criminals “lived” for nine months. The attack used servers in the United States.
The investigation also revealed that the early warning sensors for hacks that the cyber command and the National Security Agency had posted on the networks did not work. The emphasis on protecting the United States from cyber interference in elections may have distracted attention from the security concerns of government networks, writes The New York Times. It is clarified that the Ministry of Finance, the State Department, the Department of Energy, and partly the Pentagon were affected.
Moscow rejects accusations of hacker attacks on American departments and considers them unfounded.
