The White House isn't as impenetrable as you think.
Things haven't been so great at the White House in terms of security. As if someone jumping over the fence wasn't bad enough, US officials recently admitted that Russian hackers have attacked a vulnerable network in the White House. Luckily, the affected computers were part of the non-classified network, but the attackers were still able to access information, such as the president's daily schedule and travel plans. Even worse, it's been reported that the hackers used an account on the State Department network to access the White House.
When the story first broke, it wasn't clear how the cyber attackers were able to breach the White House network, but since then a security company has found a possible answer. FireEye Inc determined that APT28, a politically inclined Russian hacking group, used an unpatched point in Adobe Flash Player and Windows operating system in a series of attacks against “a specific foreign government organization” last month. Other firms have connected APT28 to a previous breach at US State Department computers, but it isn't clear if the group is linked to the White House breach. FireEye is unable to provide a comment on the link between the two because of classified information.
Adobe has since issued a patch for the security weakness, so users with the most current version should be safe. While the problem with Microsoft hasn't been fixed, a spokesperson said the company is currently working on a patch. According to FireEye, APT28 has been active since 2007 and previously targeted US defense attaches and military contractors, government officials in Georgia, and NATO alliance offices.
Another security firm, Trend Micro Inc, spoke about the Pawn Storm campaign, which also attacked computers in the State Department, NATO, and other Eastern European nations. Because both Pawn Storm and APT28 used some of the same tools and attacked some of the same targets, other security professionals have come to the conclusion that they are the same hackers.
The thought of the White House being hacked is a disturbing one. Citizens hope that an institution with so much sensitive information, especially about the president, would have the strongest and best security measures in order to prevent any and all possible breaches. So much time has been spent protecting the US against terrorist attacks and wars that it seems we've let down our guard when it comes to cyber criminals, who continue to get smarter the more the problem goes unnoticed.
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