Media: Russian hackers breached U.S. Treasury systems

Russia-linked hackers breached the systems of the U.S. Treasury and one of the Department of Commerce’s divisions, Reuters and The Washington Post reported. 

According to reports, the attackers gained access to the systems as early as spring 2020 and had been monitoring the agencies’ emails for months.

The breach may have been triggered by SolarWinds updates. The attack could have affected other agencies, as the company services many U.S. government entities.

The New York Times named the breach as one of the largest attacks on U.S. government systems in the last five years.

SolarWinds confirmed the breach and said the attackers are linked to a foreign state.

The Washington Post reports that the attack was carried out by the hacker group Cozy Bear (also known as APT29). According to the publication, it operates for the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service.

Cozy Bearhad been linked to the attack on the Democratic Party of the United States.

Russia dismissed the information reported in the media as unfounded and denied any involvement in the breach.

Earlier in November, the U.S. Cyber Command, together with the FBI and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, detected new types of malware. Authorities say that Russian hackers used them in attacks on U.S. government agencies.

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