Washington: The US State Department was hit by a new cyberattack this month. Local media reports on Saturday said that this information has been given by the Department of Defense Cyber Command. It has been said in a news report that who is behind this attack, is not clear at the moment. A spokesman for the department told Fox News, “The department takes its responsibility to protect its information seriously and always takes the necessary steps to ensure the security of the information.” He also said that due to security reasons, we are not in a position to discuss any alleged cyber incident or its scope at this time.
It cannot be said right now whether the work of any department has been affected by this violation. However, a report by the Senate Homeland Security Committee found the department’s security in most work areas ineffective and highlighted the fact that sensitive national security information was at risk. The sensitive information mentioned in the report includes name, date of birth, and social security number used for passport verification.
A source familiar with the US efforts to evacuate Americans and Afghans from Afghanistan said Operation Ally Refugees was not affected. “The auditors identified vulnerabilities related to the state’s security of sensitive information,” the committee said, adding that the “department did not have an effective data protection and privacy program.” The Senate report earlier this month also said was that the State Department had not conducted a timely security assessment, which was addressed in the 2015 Inspector General report.
