A historic hacking has just been discovered and at a very critical time in our nation. Could there be a more suspicious set of circumstances? Here is a breakdown:

A foreign government backed hacking group has reportedly stolen information from both the United States Treasury Department and an agency in charge of determining policy related to internet and telecommunications, according to a Reuters exclusive report.

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Reuters reported that three people briefed on the situation said the U.S. intelligence community is concerned the hacking group who compromised the Treasury Department and the Commerce Department’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) have also used similar tactics to break into other government agencies.

“The United States government is aware of these reports and we are taking all necessary steps to identify and remedy any possible issues related to this situation,” said John Ullyot, a spokesman for the National Security Council.

According to Reuters, a National Security Council meeting was held at the White House regarding the serious and “sophisticated” hack, one person familiar with the matter said. (Excerpt from American Military News. Article by Liz George.)

Hackers managed to hide malicious code in a software update for a tool called SolarWinds Orion. It’s typically used to make IT simpler with a single panel for administering various parts of a network. Earlier this year, hackers believed to be sponsored by the Russian government managed to inject malware into Orion updates released between March 2020 and June 2020. According to Reuters, which broke the news Sunday, that allowed the snoops a foothold in customer networks and the ability, at the very least, to spy on emails. (Excerpt from Forbes. Article by Thomas Brewster.)

“According to Reuters, the elaborate cyber hack was launched on the Treasury Department as well as the Commerce Department’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration, or NTIA, a U.S. agency that is tasked with crafting internet and telecommunications policy. Sources told the outlet that the hack was so serious it led to a National Security Council meeting on Saturday.

Hackers reportedly used the organization’s Microsoft Office 365 platform to monitor staff members emails for months.

A Treasury Department spokesperson deferred comment to the NSC. A spokesperson for the Commerce Department confirmed the breach, adding that it has “asked CISA and the FBI to investigate” but declining to comment any further.  A Microsoft spokesperson declined to comment to FOX Business. (Excerpt from Fox Business.)

Reports are that one of the points of access for the hackers was with a SolarWinds’ Orion Network Management products.  These products are used in cyber security.  A partial listing of SolarWinds Orion customers that may be affected is located here. In addition to the Treasury Department which was confirmed as being “hacked,” the following security-sensitive SolarWinds Orion customers may have been breached as well: U.S. Department of Defense, Department of Justice, U.S. Secret Service, the U.S. Air Force, Federal Reserve Bank, Microsoft, New York Power, and General Dynamics to name a few.

Who could be hacked?

-More than 425 of the Fortune 500 companies
-All ten of the top ten telecommunications companies in our nation
-All five branches of the military
-Critical governmental offices such as the State Department, the Pentagon, the NSA, NASA, and the Office of the President of the United States
-All five of the top five U.S. accounting firms

Interestingly, Dominion was also a customer of SolarWinds products.  In fact, according to a guest on the Sean Hannity show, “the FBI, Texas Rangers & US Marshals are all at the SolarWinds HQ in Austin, TX” looking at their systems.

The U.S. government cyber security agency CISA has issued an emergency directive:

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) yesterday issued Emergency Directive 21-01, in response to a known compromise involving SolarWinds Orion products that are currently being exploited by malicious actors. This Emergency Directive calls on all federal civilian agencies to review their networks for indicators of compromise and disconnect or power down SolarWinds Orion products immediately.

“The compromise of SolarWinds’ Orion Network Management Products poses unacceptable risks to the security of federal networks,” said CISA Acting Director Brandon Wales. “Tonight’s directive is intended to mitigate potential compromises within federal civilian networks, and we urge all our partners—in the public and private sectors—to assess their exposure to this compromise and to secure their networks against any exploitation.”

Kim Zetter, a cyber security journalist and author breaks down the situation in this easy explanation in her Twitter feed. “The maker of software that is used in the highest echelons of gov, including the White House and NSA, was compromised by attackers who slipped malicious code into the software maker’s trusted code without the software maker knowing it. The code got distributed to its customers, That malicious code, once it infected customer systems, opened a backdoor into those systems and contacted the hackers to let them know the door was open for them to surreptitiously enter those systems and begin stealing sensitive data on those networks. But there’s a lot that’s still unknown about the operation — who all was compromised and what data or secrets were stolen.”

Our prayer is needed. Personal information could have been accessed, but experts say this was not what the hackers were after. This hack was reportedly made in March 2020, and is just being uncovered now. That is ten months of unfettered access to government systems for those behind the hacking. Reports are that Russia or China are the first likely suspects in this aggressive actions.

What will be the damage of the espionage? Who is behind it? Share how you are praying about the critical breach in security in our nation.