President Donald Trump tweeted about what he calls the Russia hoax Friday morning – amid new revelations of what appears to be a massive hack being traced to Moscow that compromised huge swaths of the government.
Trump s tweet came as he is facing political criticism for failing to publicly acknowledge, no less counter, a cyber attack that officials suspect is yet another breach driven by a Russian foreign intelligence unit.
Republican Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah compared the attack, which went undetected for months, to a long-range bomber. What I find most astonishing is that a cyberhack of this nature is really the modern equivalent of almost Russian bombers reportedly flying undetected over the entire country, he said in a tweet Thursday.
British cyber experts are now examining if UK Government has been affected
Publicly-available contract documents show software used by Home Office
British cyber spies are today urgently investigating a major suspected Russian hack that has caused chaos in the US amid fears UK government departments, police forces and private companies could be affected.
The sprawling attack is being called the biggest breach in American history and a grave threat to the US government, after hackers got into networks used by the Pentagon, FBI, Treasury, State Department and nuclear security agencies.
ADVERTISEMENT
Today, the UK Cyber Security Agency said it was investigating the incident, which saw attackers - thought to be working for the Kremlin - get into computer networks by installing a vulnerability in a software update from US tech firm SolarWinds.
GOP senator says relief talks are in the same place, no progress
From CNN s Ted Barrett and Ali Zaslav
Rod Lamkey/Pool/Getty Images
The No. 2 Senate Republican, John Thune, said Friday that Covid-19 relief talks are in the same place.
“Kind of the same place, no progress,” Thune said, when asked if he had an update on the negotiations.
Congressional leaders are scrambling to finalize a $900 billion Covid-19 relief deal before tonight s midnight deadline to fund the government. Relief and the shutdown deadline are tied together since leaders want to tie the relief deal to a $1.4 trillion funding bill to keep the government open through next September.
Stimulus: Congress shows signs of cooperation as Trump s election sideshow drags on cnn.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from cnn.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Microsoft warns UK companies were targeted by SolarWinds hackers
Microsoft says it has identified more than 40 customers that had installed the compromised SolarWinds Orion software
18 December 2020 • 11:05am
Microsoft has warned that some of its UK customers have been exposed to the malware used in the Russia-linked SolarWinds hack that targeted US states and government agencies.
More than 40 of the tech giant s customers are thought to have used breached SolarWinds software, including clients in Britain, the US, Canada, Mexico, Belgium, Spain, Israel, and the UAE.
The company would not name the victims, but said they include government agencies, think tanks, non-governmental organisations and IT firms. Microsoft said four in five were in the US, with nearly half of them tech companies.