Major U.S. Government Agencies Hacked: Inside the MOVEit Cyber Breach | June 16 2023
Channel: Hacking Space Frontier
Date: 2023-06-16

Top U.S. cybersecurity officials have confirmed that multiple federal agencies have been targeted by cyberattacks on the popular file transfer tool called MOVEit. The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) Director, Jen Easterly, stated that her team, along with the FBI, is assisting the affected federal agencies. The attacks are part of a widespread breach orchestrated by the Russia-based Clop ransomware gang, impacting numerous entities.

CISA is actively working with Progress Software, the company behind MOVEit, to understand the extent of the breach within federal agencies. Easterly mentioned that CISA is supporting several agencies that have experienced intrusions into their MOVEit applications. However, she stated that there is currently no significant impact on the civilian .gov enterprise, although investigations are ongoing.

The compromised file transfer application, MOVEit, is being exploited by Clop to steal information specifically stored within the tool at the time of the intrusion. Easterly emphasized that the vulnerabilities in MOVEit are not being utilized to gain broader access to federal systems or target high-value information. She described the campaign as opportunistic and clarified that Clop has not attempted to extort or leak stolen data from the U.S. government.

Easterly compared this breach to the SolarWinds hack of 2020, noting that it does not pose a systemic risk to national security or the nation's network. The affected agencies have not been named, and the number of impacted entities is referred to as "small." However, the Department of Energy confirmed it suffered a data breach related to the attack on MOVEit. The Department is working with law enforcement, CISA, and the affected entities to investigate and mitigate the breach's impacts.

Specifically mentioned as having accessed data through MOVEit are the Energy Department organization Oak Ridge Associated Universities and the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in Carlsbad, New Mexico. The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant is the sole repository for the disposal of transuranic waste generated by atomic energy defense activities.

While some agencies, like the Department of the Interior, confirmed they were not affected, others, including the State Department and the Office of the Secretary of Defense, declined to comment or provide details on their network status due to policy and operational security reasons.