National: Hackers Attack Health and Human Services Computer System | David E. Sanger, Nicole Perlroth and Matthew Rosenberg/The New York Times
A crude effort by hackers to test the defenses of computer systems for the Department of Health and Human Services on Sunday evening escalated Monday, with administration officials saying they were investigating a significant increase in activity on the department’s cyberinfrastructure. But officials backed off earlier suggestions that a foreign power was behind the attack, coming as the nation and the world struggle to cope with the coronavirus. The incident appeared to be a particularly aggressive, if somewhat conventional, effort to scan the department’s networks for vulnerabilities, and perhaps to try to break into its email system. But while the effort set off alarms, given sensitivities around the work on the coronavirus, officials said they could not determine whether the action was the result of foreign actors or just hackers seizing on the moment to create chaos. The first reports came from White House officials, some of whom said that Iran may have been seeking revenge for American-led sanctions or for the U.S. drone strike in Iraq that killed Maj. Gen. Qassim Suleimani, the country’s most important military commander. While some officials embraced that view, cyberexperts who examined the incident said it was little different than the thousands of routine attempts that companies and government agencies fend off daily, as hackers and security researchers scan the internet for weak spots.
