Agence France-Presse,
A hacker penetrated an unclassified Pentagon email system, prompting authorities to take as many 1,500 accounts offline, defense officials said Thursday.
“Elements of the OSD unclassified e-mail system were taken offline yesterday afternoon due to a detected penetration,” US Defense Secretary Robert Gates said, using an acronym for the Office of the Secretary of Defense.
“A variety of precautionary measures are being taken. We expect the system to be online again very soon,” Gates said.
Between 1,000 and 1,500 users of the system were taken offline, a defense official said.
On Wednesday, a congressional panel disclosed that hackers also have succeeded in penetrating computers at the Department of Homeland Security, the lead government agency in providing security against cyber attack.
“What does this mean? It means terrorists or nation states could be hacking Department of Homeland Security databases, changing or altering names to allow them access to this country, and we wouldn't even know they were doing it,” said Representative James Langevin.
The Pentagon email system carries “routine email” involving administrative manners but not classified information related to military operations, Colonel Gary Keck, a Pentagon spokesman said.
Gates said the Defense Department computers are under constant attack, but he could not say why this attack unlike others forced authorities to take down part of the system.
Pentagon officials would not comment on the source of the attack, or whether the hacker was able to read email sent over the system.
“We obviously have redundant systems in place, and there's no anticipated adverse impact on ongoing operations,” Gates said. “There will be some administrative disruptions and personal inconveniences.”
“It will come as no surprise that we aggressively monitor intrusions and have appropriate procedures to address events of this kind. But, as I say, we get perhaps hundreds of attacks a day,” he said.
