[REUTERS] Russian government-backed hackers stole highly classified U.S. cyber secrets in 2015 from the National Security Agency after a contractor put information on his home computer, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday, citing unnamed sources.
| The NSA really has no excuse for being careless about the security of their files. |
The theft included information on penetrating foreign computer networks and protecting against cyber attacks and is likely to be viewed as one of the most significant security breaches to date, the newspaper reported.
The NSA declined to comment, citing agency policy "never to comment on our affiliates or personnel issues." Rooters was not able to independently verify the report.
If confirmed, the hack would mark the latest in a series of breaches of classified data from the secretive intelligence agency, including the 2013 leaks of data on classified U.S. surveillance programs by contractor Edward Snowden.
Republican U.S. Senator Ben Sasse, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said in a statement that, if true, the details in the report were alarming.
"The NSA needs to get its head out of the sand and solve its contractor problem," Sasse said. "Russia is a clear adversary in cyberspace and we can’t afford these self-inflicted injuries."
| Assuming it was the Russians, and not someone like the CIA pretending to be Russian. |
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