The FBI is now investigating allegations into foreign hackers who repeatedly attack dozens of computers at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), two Democratic lawmakers and an aide said on Monday.
Mississippi Rep. Bennie Thompson has asked for an inquiry into the data breaches and questioned work done by information systems provider Unisys Corp to protect DHS from hackers.
A Thompson aide said the FBI investigation is based on a committee probe that has been going on for several months. “The results of our investigation suggest that the department is the victim not only of cyber attacks initiated by foreign entities, but of incompetent and possibly illegal activity by the contractor charged with maintaining security on its networks,†the two lawmakers said in a statement.
In a September 21 letter to DHS, Thompson and Langevin said the committee’s inquiry found that “dozens of Department of Homeland Security computers were compromised by hackers†and that hackers removed data from DHS systems to a Web hosting service connected to Chinese Web sites.
The letter alleged that the data was removed “despite the Department of Homeland Security’s assertions to the contrary,†and that network protection devices were not up and running when the data breaches occurred.
Source: Reuters