NATO ordered a major overhaul of its security systems following the cyber attacks on the US and seven other countries

NATO, alert to cyber attacks
NATO, alert to cyber attacks

The Atlantic Alliance said Saturday it was conducting an in-depth review of its computer systems following the massive cyber attack on numerous US government agencies, which Washington blamed on Russia. “So far we have found no trace of any breach of NATO networks. Our experts continue to investigate the situation to identify and suppress potential risks ”, a NATO official told AFP.

The Microsoft company warned Thursday that its antivirus program had detected dozens of attacks on computer systems, most in the United States, through programs from the American company SolarWinds.

The NATO official consulted acknowledged that the Alliance uses SolarWinds software in some internal networks of its Brussels headquarters. “NATO also has rapid response teams available 24 hours a day to support allies, and our Cyberspace Operations Center operates,” the official said anonymously.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg (Reuters)
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg (Reuters)

Microsoft chairman Brad Smith said in a blog Thursday that Thursday’s attack was the largest the company has discovered so far this year, organized by a state.

In addition to the United States, internal networks in seven other countries – Belgium, Great Britain, Canada, Israel, Mexico, Spain and the United Arab Emirates – were affected.

That number will grow, Smith predicted.

Russia in the crosshairs

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo accused Russia of organizing a large-scale cyber attack aimed at stealing the secrets of multiple US government agencies, including the Pentagon and nuclear laboratories.

Pompeo is the first member of the US government to publicly link the Kremlin to the cyber attack, which was made public last Sunday and on which outgoing US President Donald Trump has not yet taken a stand. “I think it is true that we can now say very clearly that it was the Russians who took part in this event,” Pompeo said Friday night in an interview on the conservative radio program “The Mark Levin Show”. “It was a very significant effort,” he said, adding, “We’re still figuring out what exactly it was.”

Last Thursday, the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA, for its acronym in English) warned that this cyber attack poses a “serious risk” to the federal government as it has endangered “critical infrastructures”. in the country and it will be difficult to eliminate.

Trump administration targets the Kremlin for hacks
Trump administration targets the Kremlin for hacks

Those responsible for the attack spied on customers around the world for months on a product from the American technology company SolarWinds.

The cyber attack, which reportedly began in March, used updates to that software to break into the systems of multiple U.S. government agencies, including the Treasury, State, Commerce and Homeland Security Departments.

The perpetrators also reportedly tried to steal secrets from the Pentagon and the US nuclear program at Los Alamos, the facility where the first atomic bomb was made.

According to The New York Times, US intelligence agencies have informed Congress that they believe a Russian elite intelligence agency is responsible for the hacking, although Moscow has publicly denied any involvement in that cyber attack.

With information from EFE and AFP

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