WASHINGTON, D.C. – On Monday the Department of Homeland Security announced it was aware of cyber breaches across the federal government and that it was working closely with public and private sector partners on a federal response.
“As the federal lead for cyber breaches of civilian federal agencies, the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has already issued Emergency Directive 21-01 to the federal government to address compromises related to SolarWinds. As further remedies to these vulnerabilities are available, CISA will update the public at www.cisa.gov.
In response, U.S. Senator Maggie Hassan, D-NH, released the following statement:
“We must quickly determine what data was compromised in this breach and assess whether these hackers still pose a threat. Once we understand the full scope of the damage, the administration must immediately work to eliminate the vulnerabilities that led to this attack and strengthen our cybersecurity systems to prevent future attacks. The Senate Homeland Security Committee must make this a top priority. I will continue working with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to fully investigate this breach and understand how we can better protect our national security and economy.”
Hassan serves on the U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs Committee.
The incident involved the “suspected Russian hackers,” according to Reuters, taking advantage of a vulnerability in software from IT vendor SolarWinds used by multiple federal agencies, along with the majority of U.S. Fortune 500 companies.