In yet another twist of events in 2020, a sprawling, government-wide hack was revealed last week. The hack, believed to has started as early as March 2020, has impacted almost a dozen U.S. agencies, including The Departments of State, Homeland Security, Energy, Treasury, Commerce, National Institutes of Health, The Pentagon, Microsoft, State Governments,  Local Governments, and FireEye, one of the world`s top Cybersecurity firms. 

The true depth of the attack is still being investigated, but the effect is still felt throughout the nation. The Department of Energy has confirmed that the hack affected the Nuclear Security Division of their Department. Lawmakers have already been briefed, with negative reactions in pursuit. Richard Blumenthal, a Democratic Senator from Connecticut offered his reaction after a briefing on the attack. “Today’s classified briefing on Russia’s cyberattack left me deeply alarmed, in fact downright scared. Americans deserve to know what’s going on.”

 Although, not all officials were as quick to raise alarms. President Trump took to Twitter on Saturday, claiming the attack was less than what the Press had made of it, and that China was potentially to blame. This message contradicted his Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, who said the attack was ¨pretty clearly ¨ Russia. Regardless of Trump`s downplay, The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, or CISA, has issued a public statement about how the Departments were hacked. ¨CISA is aware of compromises, which began at least as early as March 2020, at U.S. government agencies, critical infrastructure entities, and private sector organizations by an APT actor. This threat actor has demonstrated sophistication and complex tradecraft in these intrusions. CISA expects that removing the threat actor from compromised environments will be highly complex and challenging.¨

 As the fallout of this event unfolds, agencies are working tirelessly to uncover the truth about this attack. Blame is yet to be officially placed, but Russia has a past of hacking the U.S, most notably before this in the 2016 Election. Comments from foreign adversaries are yet to be voiced.