It is to be Russian hackers who hacked into "U.S. Treasury ”and“ Commerce Department National Telecommunications and Information Administration ”systems.
It claims people with knowledge of the case, according to Reuters.
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and the FBI are investigating the burglary
Nations are hacking and spying on other countries all the time, but it is not often that there are dedicated news items about it - it was this time, as well as a crisis meeting with the staff of the "National Security Council" in the White House.
Reuters says that US authorities do not say externally who is behind it. According to three Reuters sources, Russia is the biggest suspect. Russia denies the allegations.
Must have used Office 365 security protocol to read Outlook e-mail
The hack is said to be part of several attacks, including against FireEye, a US security company that has contracts with the US state, among others.
The hack against the "National Telecommunications and Information Administration" is said to have been carried out via Office 365. Employees there are said to have had their e-mails snooped on by hackers for several months, allegedly via an Office authentication trick that is said to be difficult to perform.