Warning about different and dangerous hacking methods .. Biden: What we do not know about cyber attack is a lot

US President-elect Joe Biden said today, Thursday, that "there is a lot that we do not know about the cyber attack that targeted US companies and state and federal agencies." But he considered what we know about this attack constitutes great concern, and pledged to punish the parties involved in the cyber breach, which was described as large and sophisticated. .

Biden said - in a statement issued by his transition team - that his administration will make cybersecurity a top priority at all levels of government, and will make dealing with this violation a top priority once he takes office on January 20, adding that his administration will advance cybersecurity as an imperative. Stressing the importance of not being satisfied with defense, and the need to disrupt Washington's opponents and deter them from launching major cyber attacks in the first place.

He also stressed that his administration will impose heavy costs on those responsible for such harmful attacks, in coordination with the allies and partners of the United States.

"The opponents of the United States should know that as a president, I will not stand idly by in the face of cyber attacks targeting the country," he said.

Informed sources revealed this week that hackers believed to be working for Russia have spied on internal emails in the US Treasury and Trade departments, the federal agency and private companies, and that there are fears that the infiltration discovered so far is only the tip of the iceberg.

Urgent warning

In a related context, the American New York Times reported that federal officials issued an urgent warning that the hackers of US government systems used different techniques, and that the attack methods pose a serious threat to the federal government.

The newspaper added, citing federal officials, that the methods used in the piracy indicated "a skilled adversary who is willing to spend significant resources to keep his secret."

According to the newspaper, investigators believe that it will take months to reveal the extent of the American networks affected by the piracy process.

A joint statement by the FBI and the Cyber ​​Security and National Intelligence Agency stated that the situation is developing, and that work is underway to find out the full extent of the cyber attacks, and confirmed that the FBI is investigating and gathering intelligence information to identify the parties responsible for the attacks, follow-up and develop Stop her.

For its part, Bloomberg Network revealed that the White House is holding urgent daily meetings with the participation of officials from multiple agencies, to address the infiltration of US information systems.

The network quoted a senior official as saying that officials of the information services provide data to the investigators, but it is still not clear how long the investigation process will take.

By chance

Politico, citing sources in Congress and at the cybersecurity company FireEye, reported that the cyber breach that US officials linked to Russian intelligence was discovered by chance.

The method and tactic of hacking that the US government networks have been exposed to, starting from the initial infiltration until the deception of Microsoft's authentication systems, indicates great progress in the methods of espionage, infiltration and concealment of even the best surveillance systems, and the strategy of the method shows that the victims may be in the hundreds and that many of them are oblivious.

- Abdullah Al-Ali (@CyberkovCEO) December 14, 2020

The site stated that an investigation conducted by the "Fire Eye" company, against the background of its network being hacked, was the reason behind the discovery of the piracy that exposed about 12 US federal agencies.

He explained that the FireEye investigation revealed a serious flaw in a program developed by SolarWinds, and used by federal agencies and major US companies.

The site stated that it is not known exactly how long it took the "Fire Eye" company to discover its vulnerability to penetration, stressing that the vulnerability gave the hackers months of access to the internal email accounts of federal agencies, including the Ministries of Treasury, Commerce and Homeland Security.

Coordinate response

The US National Security Adviser Robert O'Brien cut short a visit to Europe to return to Washington, to coordinate a response to the cyber breach that targeted several institutions in the United States this week.

And American security sources had said - earlier - that groups of Russian pirates, affiliated with the Russian security services, were responsible for a large-scale infiltration operation against American targets.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo emphasized that Russia's use of cyber attacks against the United States is a constant and frequent matter, and said in a radio interview that Russia tried to interfere in elections in 2008, 2012 and 2016.

The senior Democrat in the Senate Intelligence Committee, Mark Warner, held Russia responsible for the recent cyberattacks against a number of US institutions.

However, the spokesman for the Russian presidency (Kremlin) Dmitry Peskov denied the US accusations that his country was behind the recent cyber attacks, and Peskov said that the Americans always point accusations against the Russians in all actions that target them.