U.S. officials have confirmed that Russia did infiltrate an unclassified White House system last year.
Although the system contained the president’s private schedule, the alleged cyberattack did not impact any classified information, according to MSNBC.
“This report is not referring to a new incident — it is speculating on the attribution of the activity of concern on the unclassified EOP network that the White House disclosed last year,” National Security Council spokesman Mark Stroh said.
“Any such activity is something we take very seriously. In this case, as we made clear at the time, we took immediate measures to evaluate and mitigate the activity,” Stroh said in a statement.
The Russians were believed to have gotten into the system through the State Department computers. Even though Stroh has not confirmed that Russia did in fact carry out the hack, other U.S. officials, one in law enforcement and one on the intelligence community, did confirm it and also added that there was no classified information breached.
The “cyber intrusion” from last year was openly disclosed by the Obama administration. Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes also said that the White House does take regular steps to prevent hackers on an on-going basis.
“There’s always vulnerability,” Rhodes said. “The fact is that’s why we have a classified system, because there’s less risk on the classified system, and that is secure. On the unclassified system, we take regular actions to prevent vulnerabilities in security.”
Russia is believed to have carried out other “hacking” attempts in the past on classified systems. In 2008, the U.S. military systems were attacked according to former FBI assistant executive director Shawn Henry, who is now the CEO of the cybersecurity consulting firm, Crowstrike.
“I have no doubt that the Russians and the Chinese are in all of these White House networks,” Henry said.
The attack that occurred in October last year was a sign that cyber intrusion originated from the Russian government. The hack last year happened directly after the U.S. imposed sanctions on Russia over its actions in Ukraine.
President Barack Obama signed an executive order last week that authorized the first sanctions program against cyberattacks who pose a threat to American interests.
