By Justin Katz
Jan 13, 2021
The Justice Department confirmed its systems were hacked by suspected Russian intelligence agents that exploited a backdoor vulnerability in the SolarWinds Orion IT management software.
Attackers are believed to have accessed around 3% of email inboxes, but not any classified systems, according to DOJ spokesman Marc Raimondi.
DOJ s confirmation comes the day after the White House’s Cyber Unified Coordination Group first attributed the SolarWinds Orion hack to a Russian entity. The group also said it believes fewer than 10 federal agencies were victimized by hackers following the initial breach. As part of the ongoing technical analysis, the department has determined that the activity constitutes a major incident under the Federal Information Security Modernization Act, and is taking the steps consistent with that determination, Raimondi said.
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency says hackers are breaching federal networks by exploiting methods besides the SolarWinds Orion vulnerabilities.
By David R. Shedd
Jan 14, 2021
Confronting potential threats emerging from the rise of great-power competition dictates new approaches to collecting intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR). The U.S. is on the right path by making large new investments in conventional long-range precision weapons. If it does become necessary to use these advanced weapons, however, will they be effective? That is the critical question.
Throughout the Cold War, Americaâs national security focused on the former Soviet Union as the strategic threat. The U.S. intelligence community (IC) and the Air Force developed and fielded collection systems to monitor vast geographic areas. By maintaining large repositories of potential military targets, policymakers and military leaders could count on getting early indications and warnings of threats emanating from the USSR.
By Brandon Shopp
Jan 12, 2021
At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, military IT leaders raced to expand network capacity and upgrade infrastructure to ensure it could meet their mission-critical workloads and support telework. Their successful efforts have established a proof of their own abilities to adapt, scale and secure their networks with speed and agility.
This will come in handy as they ask themselves what new challenges or âchoke pointsâ might arise as the nation enters the nest wave of the coronavirus.
As more Department of Defense personnel telework and government and home networks are pushed to the max, here are four things the Pentagon must consider as its plans for the impact on IT systems.
Due on Inauguration Day: An acquisition strategy for the Air Force’s next-gen battle management system January 12 Tech. Sgt. John Rodiguez provides security with a Ghost Robotics Vision 60 prototype at a simulated austere base during the Advanced Battle Management System exercise on Nellis Air Force Base, Nev., on Sept. 1, 2020. (Tech. Sgt. Cory D. Payne/U.S. Air Force) WASHINGTON The U.S. Air Force’s Advanced Battle Management System effort is a program like no other: a complicated and sometimes confusing web of communications, IT and artificial intelligence systems that the service plans to continuously test and develop with the goal of connecting sensors and shooters across the joint force.