{"id":1949097,"date":"2023-06-16T12:18:02","date_gmt":"2023-06-16T16:18:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/a-russian-ransomware-gang-breaches-the-energy-department-and-other-federal-agencies\/"},"modified":"2023-06-16T12:21:41","modified_gmt":"2023-06-16T16:21:41","slug":"a-russian-ransomware-gang-breaches-the-energy-department-and-other-federal-agencies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/a-russian-ransomware-gang-breaches-the-energy-department-and-other-federal-agencies\/","title":{"rendered":"Russian ransomware group hacks Energy Department and other US federal agencies."},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">22<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fa-russian-ransomware-gang-breaches-the-energy-department-and-other-federal-agencies%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1949097&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div class=\"post_content\">\n<h2>Russian Cyber-Extortion Gang Targets Government Agencies and Corporations<\/h2>\n<p>The Department of Energy and several other federal agencies were compromised in a global hack orchestrated by a Russian cyber-extortion gang. While the impact on the Department of Energy is expected to be minimal, other victims from various sectors are experiencing serious consequences.<\/p>\n<h3>Swift Action Thwarts a Short-Lived Attack<\/h3>\n<p>Jen Easterly, director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, assured reporters that this hacking campaign, unlike the sophisticated SolarWinds attack, was short-lived and quickly detected. She emphasized that the intrusions were opportunistic in nature and not aimed at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/a-russian-ransomware-gang-breaches-the-energy-department-and-other-federal-agencies\/\" title=\"Russian ransomware group hacks Energy Department and other US federal agencies.\">gaining broader access<\/a> or stealing high-value information.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAlthough we are very concerned about this campaign and working on it with urgency, this is not a campaign like SolarWinds that presents a systemic risk to our national security or our nation\u2019s networks,\u201d Easterly added.<\/p>\n<p>A senior CISA official confirmed that neither the U.S. military nor the intelligence community were affected. However, two entities within the Energy Department were compromised, according to Energy Department spokesperson Chad Smith.<\/p>\n<h3>Wide Range of Victims<\/h3>\n<p>The list of victims continues to grow, with organizations such as Louisiana\u2019s Office of Motor Vehicles, Oregon\u2019s Department of Transportation, the Nova Scotia provincial government, British Airways, the British Broadcasting Company, and the U.K. drugstore chain Boots falling prey to the attack. The hackers exploited the popular file-transfer program MOVEit, which is widely used by businesses to securely share files, including sensitive financial and insurance data.<\/p>\n<p>For instance, Louisiana officials revealed that personal information of individuals with a driver\u2019s license or vehicle registration in the state was exposed. This includes their name, address, Social Security number, and birthdate. To protect against identity theft, Louisiana residents are encouraged to freeze their credit.<\/p>\n<p>The Oregon Department of Transportation also confirmed that the attackers accessed personal information, including sensitive data, of approximately 3.5 million people who were issued identity cards or driver\u2019s licenses by the state.<\/p>\n<h3>Ransomware Syndicate Demands Ransom<\/h3>\n<p>The Cl0p ransomware syndicate, responsible for the hack, announced on their <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/ransomware-group-blackcat-behind-italys-gse-hacking-researchers-say\/\" title=\"Ransomware group BlackCat behind Italy\u2019s GSE hacking, researchers say\">dark web site<\/a> that they had targeted hundreds of victims. They set a deadline for negotiations on a ransom, threatening to release stolen data if no agreement was reached.<\/p>\n<p>However, the syndicate claimed that they would delete any data stolen from governments, cities, and police departments.<\/p>\n<p>The senior CISA official refrained from disclosing the names of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/lawmakers-say-overhaul-needed-to-protect-fed-agencies-from-foreign-hacks\/\" title=\"Lawmakers Say Overhaul Needed to Protect Fed Agencies from Foreign Hacks\">federal agencies affected<\/a> but assured reporters that this was not a widespread campaign.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>education, the consequences of the Russian cyber-extortion gang&#8217;s global hack are yet to be fully understood. The Department of Energy and various federal agencies were targeted, but Homeland Security officials downplayed the potential impact. However, numerous industries and educational institutions may have fallen victim to this attack, raising concerns about the extent of the damage.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":136,"featured_media":1949098,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[543],"tags":[15509,7802,4724,4486,3974,10910,3965],"class_list":["post-1949097","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-epoch-times","tag-ransomware","tag-agencies","tag-department","tag-energy","tag-federal","tag-hacks","tag-russian"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1949097","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/136"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1949097"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1949097\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1949098"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1949097"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1949097"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1949097"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}