Cyber attack at the White House doesn't get near the 'nuclear football'
The White House confirmed yesterday that it had been subject to an attempted cyberattack. Hackers tried to breach one of the most secure networks in the world.
Obama at his desk in White House
The incident, thought to have taken place earlier this month, was downplayed by White House staff, who described it as an "isolated" incident, according to he website ZDNet.
An unclassified network was affected and quickly locked-down.There was no evidence to suggest any material had been stolen, despite claims that the attack took place in the White House Military Office, home to the so-called "nuclear football," that carries the codes to the U.S. government's nuclear arsenal.
In the Conservative publication The Washington Free Beacon, Bill Gertz said one U.S. official called the attempt "one of Beijing’s most brazen cyber attacks against the United States."
Politico quoted another official explaining the situation in calmer terms. He said the culprit was an email attachment laden with malware. The attack used "spear phishing," or 'specific phishing', sent to a particular target masking as someone the recipient may know, in the hope that malware would be installed on the computer allowing in a backdoor entry into the network.
But the official claimed that none of the White House's secure networks or classified computers were affected, and that there was no "attempted breach" of a classified system.
ZDNet said that while spear phishing attempts are far from sophisticated, they are on the rise. But while the attack may worry some in Washington, both the Free Beacon and Politico -- on opposite sides of the political divide -- emphasised no classified materials were taken.
The White House's networks are undeniably secure, says Business Insider. Unclassified and lower-classification materials will travel on encrypted but lower-end networks but sensitive information -- as in the U.K. and other Allied nations -- would be sent through highly-encrypted networks that are closed-circuit to the outside world.