Federal Cyberattack Linked To Foreign Government, Intelligence Panel Member Says

Federal Cyberattack Linked To Foreign Government, Intelligence Panel Member Says

By Richard A. Serrano, Tribune Washington Bureau (TNS)

WASHINGTON — The cyberattack on the federal Office of Personnel Management was orchestrated by someone working directly for a foreign government or with a foreign state, a key member of the House Intelligence Committee said Sunday.

“There are only two possibilities here with an attack this sophisticated,” said Rep. Adam Schiff of California, the top Democrat on the panel. “Either a state actor or a group of private hackers who often work in concert with the state.”

But Schiff, speaking on Fox News Sunday, cautioned that the U.S. is not quite ready to say affirmatively who was to blame for one of the worst breaches of federal workers’ personal information.

The data breached in the OPM attack included Social Security information and other personal data belonging to about 4 million federal employees in the U.S. The information also included security clearances for federal employees.

Sources have said the information most likely was acquired to help the perpetrators identify which federal employees might be vulnerable and willing to spy against the United States.

“It’s very valuable information,” Schiff said of the stolen material. “And while we’re not allowed to comment on the attribution yet, we’ve gotten very good at attribution.”

On CNN on Saturday, Schiff strongly suggested that China, as most law enforcement sources have said, or Russia was behind the breach.

“We certainly have made great progress with the investigation,” he said. “I can tell you, as a general matter, that China is a very bad actor in the cyber field, and so is Russia. They not only have state actors, but they have private groups that work in concert with the state and are responsible for all kinds of hacks and theft.”

The U.S. government has yet to identify who was behind the attack that was first detected in April and announced last week. It was the third major intrusion into a major U.S. government computer system in the past year.

On the Republican side, Rep. Michael McCaul of Texas, chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, agreed with Schiff that China is a top suspect in the intrusion.

“All threat indicators point to the fact that it was China, perhaps nation-state sponsored, because of the way it was done,” he said Sunday on CBS’s Face The Nation. “It was done to get personal information on political appointees and federal employees to exploit them, so later down the road they can use those for espionage.”

McCaul added, “This is an area where there are no rules of the game in terms of espionage and in terms of stealing this kind of information. I think this raises all sorts of issues with Americans.”

(c)2015 Tribune Co. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Start your day with National Memo Newsletter

Know first.

The opinions that matter. Delivered to your inbox every morning

How A Stuttering President Confronts A Right-Wing Bully

Donald Trump mocks Joe Biden’s stutter,” the headlines blare, and I am confronted (again) with (more) proof that the presumptive Republican presidential nominee hates people like me.

Keep reading...Show less
Trump at Trump Tower

Former President Donald Trump at Trump Tower in Manhattan

NEW YORK, March 25 (Reuters) - Donald Trump faces a Monday deadline to post a bond to cover a $454 million civil fraud judgment or face the risk of New York state seizing some of his marquee properties.Trump, seeking to regain the presidency this year, must either pay the money out of his own pocket or post a bond while he appeals Justice Arthur Engoron's February 16 judgment against him for manipulating his net worth and his family real estate company's property values to dupe lenders and insurers.

Keep reading...Show less
{{ post.roar_specific_data.api_data.analytics }}