US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has accused "Russians" of attempting to embed code in the computer systems of several US government agencies, as well as the systems of private companies and foreign governments
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 19th December, 2020) US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has accused "Russians" of attempting to embed code in the computer systems of several US government agencies, as well as the systems of private companies and foreign governments.
Earlier in the week, the Reuters news agency cited national security sources who claimed that a foreign government-backed group of hackers accessed the systems of the US Department of the Treasury and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration.
Several days later, the Politico portal stated that the US Department of Energy and the National Nuclear Security Administration were also breached by hackers.
"But suffice it to say there was a significant effort to use a piece of third-party software to essentially embed code inside of U.S. Government systems and it now appears systems of private companies and companies and governments across the world as well.�This was a very significant effort, and I think it's the case that now we can say pretty clearly that it was the Russians that engaged in this activity," Pompeo said during an appearance on the Mark Levin Show, as transcribed by the Department of State.
The secretary of state added that much of the information regarding the cyberattacks was still classified.
Russia has consistently denied allegations that it conducts cyberattacks on US entities. On Monday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Moscow had nothing to do with the breach of the Department of the Treasury's systems.�
