White House Investigating Hacking Pointing To Russia

The White House has had urgent meetings with officials across many different agencies to address a breach of United States government computer system related to Russia, according to a person familiar with the situation.

The Trump administration is having daily discussions and meetings on the hack that include representatives of the FBI, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, National Security Agency, and Department of Homeland Security.

U.S. government organizations were attacked as part of a global campaign orchestrated by hackers believed to be tied to the Russian government, according to U.S. officials. The hackers were said to have installed a malicious vulnerability in software from Texas-based SolarWinds Corp.

No classified systems are believed to have been accessed.

A White House National Security Council spokesman had no immediate comment. The FBI is tracking intelligence, national security officials said in a joint statement Wednesday night.

National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien returned early from a trip to the Middle East and Europe this week to address the hack.

Technology officials at various government agencies are giving information to investigators and coordinating the response, the official said. It is not clear how long the cleanup and investigative effort will take.

The White House told officials to assess the hack under an Obama-era program, known as Presidential Policy Directive 41, that outlined how the federal government would respond to a cyber attack.

The Department of Defense stated that to date it had no evidence that their information networks were compromised.

“We will continue to work with the whole-of-government effort to mitigate cyber threats to the nation.” Vice Admiral Nancy Norton, director of the Defense Information Systems Agency, said in the statement.

It’s not clear how long the cleanup and investigative effort will take.

Sources: Breitbart and Politico; Photo: msn.com