They injected malware that would give them widespread access to computer systems after government agencies and corporations installed the updates. From there, they were able to build “back doors” that allowed them to come and go, steal data, and – although it does not seem to have happened yet – modify data or launch destructive attacks.
“This was a very common cybersecurity event,” said Brad Smith, president of Microsoft Corporation, in an interview on Thursday evening. “And I would argue that this is more than just espionage. It is the creation of a broad vulnerability in the supply chain that requires a different type of response. It has created a vulnerability to the world in a way that other spying techniques do not. “
Mr. Smith called it “a moment of reckoning”.
While Mr Trump began his tenure with a strong cybersecurity team in the White House, his third national security adviser, John R. Bolton, ousted them and eliminated the post of cyber czar with direct access to the president. The new National Defense Approval Act, which Mr Trump threatens to veto for other reasons, would re-create such a post. This is one of several recommendations from a non-partisan Cyberspace Solarium commission that issued a report earlier this year before the Russian attack became known.
But by the time Mr. Pompeo, who headed the CIA for the first two years of the Trump administration, made his assessment in an interview on “The Mark Levin Show,” the administration had all but ignored the attack in public – perhaps it realized that it was an administration, which came into office after Russia interfered in the 2016 elections, fell victim to one of Russia’s best-executed cyberattacks.
“This has been a very significant effort,” said Pompeo, adding, “we’re still unwrapping exactly what it is.” He said he expected most of the details to be kept secret.
He didn’t mention that the hackers had come to his own place of work – the State Department – nor did he say if they were just in unclassified rooms. Nor did he mention the fact that the Treasury Department and American nuclear laboratories like Los Alamos were hit.
“We failed to scare off the Russians,” said Delaware Senator Chris Coons, a Democrat close to Mr Biden, on Thursday. “We’ll see Putin stop this action if we stop him,” he said. “It’s just as aggressive for our intelligence and military systems as anything in my life.”
