Cyberattack: ‘We can say quite clearly’ Russia was behind hack, says Pompeo

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“This was a very significant effort, and I think it is true that we can now say quite clearly that it was the Russians who engaged in this activity,” Pompeo said in an interview on The Mark Levin Show on Friday.

“I can’t say much more as we are still unpacking exactly what it is, and I’m sure some of it will remain secret,” he added.

At least half a dozen federal agencies are now known to be targeted, including the Cyber ​​Division of the Department of Homeland Security and the Departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Energy and State. Researchers are still trying to determine what government data may have been accessed or stolen during the hack.

“Suffice it to say that a significant effort has been made to use a piece of third-party software to essentially embed code into US government systems and it now also appears to be systems of private companies and companies and governments around the world” , Pompeo said. .

The first signs of a hack by the US government came to light months ago, but were inconclusive
President Donald Trump has said nothing publicly about the hack, despite it being one of the most significant breaches against the US government in years, and US officials say it “poses a serious risk” to networks in both the public and private sectors.

The White House said Friday that Trump is being briefed and is “working very hard” to address the hack.

When asked about Trump’s silence on the matter, Pompeo noted that work was going on behind the scenes.

“There are many things you would really like to say, ‘Boy, I’m just going to call that,’ but a wiser way to protect the American people is to proceed calmly and defend freedom,” he said .

As the scope of the espionage campaign and its sophistication became more apparent over the past two weeks, US officials began to believe that some entity or Russian individuals are responsible for the attacks. Pompeo’s comments go further than any other Trump administration official by placing the blame on Russia, as further evidence shows that the hacking operation bears all the hallmarks of a Russian-backed actor.

The Russian Embassy in Washington has denied involvement in the hack.

But Moscow has been linked to several recent breaches, including the hacking of Democratic officials during the 2016 US presidential election.

Last week, cybersecurity firm FireEye announced that it was the target of an advanced, likely state-sponsored espionage attempt, and that several of its own hacking tools had been stolen.

CNN previously reported that a Russian-affiliated group known as APT29 was behind the attack on FireEye.

On Sunday, Reuters first reported that the Ministries of Commerce and Finance had been hit by hackers. The Department of Commerce quickly confirmed a security incident.

That same evening, FireEye identified the source of its own intrusion as malware hidden in its software updates published by software vendor SolarWinds, which is used by a number of federal civil network management agencies.

As many as 18,000 SolarWinds customers, including US government agencies and Fortune 500 companies, had received the updates with the malware.

CNN’s Zachary Cohen, Brian Fung, Kaitlan Collins, Alex Marquardt and Jason Hoffman contributed to this report.

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