NSA Chief: Don’t Assume China Hacked OPM

Michael_Rogers.jpg

The US military’s top cyber warrior says it’s merely an “assumption” that the Chinese government was behind the recent hack at the Office of Personnel Management, or OPM — and not necessarily one he shares. That puts Adm. Michael Rogers, (pictured) commander of US Cyber Command and director of the National Security Agency, in opposition to unnamed sources within the US government who blamed Beijing in June 4 interviews with the New York Times and Washington Post.

Rogers spoke in response to a question about how the National Security Agency was going about attributing the breach to the Chinese government. “You’ve put an assumption in your question,” he said. “I’m not going to get into the specifics of attribution. It’s a process that’s ongoing.”

The OPM hack may have exposed as many as 18 million records of government employees and job applicants, including people who applied for—and received—top-secret clearances.
Rogers’s hedged response, given during a question-and-answer session at the GEOINT symposium in downtown Washington, comes in stark contrast to the NSA’s approach to attribution during the Sony hack. In that case the FBI, working with the NSA and DHS, quickly named North Korea as the perpetrator, resulting in the prompt issuance of sanctions.
Rogers called that a great example of cross-agency collaboration. “Working across the United States government, DHS, FBI and the National Security agency, we were able to relatively quickly come to consensus about the characterization of the activity we were seeing coming in, which formed the basis of our attribution, and with a relatively high confidence factor, which allowed us to respond in a very public and direct way.”

If you’re a conservative politician or a presidential candidate, there’s a good chance that you believe that the Chinese government is behind the OPM hack and that the Obama administration is being too easy on Beijing. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, who serves on the Senate Intelligence Committee, told the Associated Press on June 5 that Beijing backed the intrusion. She called it “yet another indication of a foreign power probing successfully and focusing on what appears to be data that would identify people with security clearances.”

More recently, former Arkansas governor and 2016 GOP presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee wrote on his blog, “We should hack the cell phones of some prominent Communist party leaders, hack the bank accounts of intelligence officials, publicly humiliate Chinese families for political corruption, or wipe-out a few critical Chinese computer systems.”
The Obama administration has been more reluctant to publicly blame the Chinese government. “I can’t promise you that we’ll be in a position at any point in the future to make a grand pronouncement about who may have been responsible for this particular intrusion,” White House press secretary Josh Earnest said at a June 9 briefing.

The cybersecurity group FireEye says it’s “highly confident” that Chinese hackers did it, based on the kind of cables and telecommunications equipment involved, the type of data stolen, and the specific backdoors that the thieves used. “These backdoors, they’re commonly used by Chinese threat actors,” Michael Oppenheim, the intelligence operations manager at FireEye, told Defense One.
Oppenheim stopped short of formally accusing the Chinese government but added, “We believe that this aligns with Chinese interests.”
Oppenheim said that he was sympathetic to Rogers’s reluctance to formally attribute the breach to the Chinese government. “For someone in his position, you want to be 100-percent sure,” he said.
Meanwhile, we asked Rogers: what is he doing to shore up defenses or retaliate for the hack? “Now tell me,” he said, “you really think that as the director of the NSA and US Cyber Command, I’m going to talk to you about that?”

DefenseOne:

 

« Data Security and Loss of Control Killing Cloud?
Hackers target Polish airline carrier LOT »

CyberSecurity Jobsite
Check Point

Directory of Suppliers

Practice Labs

Practice Labs

Practice Labs is an IT competency hub, where live-lab environments give access to real equipment for hands-on practice of essential cybersecurity skills.

Syxsense

Syxsense

Syxsense brings together endpoint management and security for greater efficiency and collaboration between IT management and security teams.

CSI Consulting Services

CSI Consulting Services

Get Advice From The Experts: * Training * Penetration Testing * Data Governance * GDPR Compliance. Connecting you to the best in the business.

NordLayer

NordLayer

NordLayer is an adaptive network access security solution for modern businesses — from the world’s most trusted cybersecurity brand, Nord Security. 

TÜV SÜD Academy UK

TÜV SÜD Academy UK

TÜV SÜD offers expert-led cybersecurity training to help organisations safeguard their operations and data.

FireMon

FireMon

FireMon is the only agile network security policy platform for firewalls and cloud security groups providing the fastest way to streamline network security policy management.

CYBERPOL

CYBERPOL

CYBERPOL is the leading Public Utility Agency for investigating cyber crimes and cyber attacks by criminals, international adversaries.

APWG

APWG

APWG is the international coalition unifying the global response to cybercrime across industry, government, law-enforcement and NGO communities.

ThetaRay

ThetaRay

ThetaRay’s solution for Industrial cyber security protects against unknown cyber-attacks that target industry and critical infrastructure.

Unitrends

Unitrends

Unitrends helps IT pros do more with less by providing an all-in-one enterprise backup and continuity solution.

Applied Science and Technology Research Institute Company Limited (ASTRI)

Applied Science and Technology Research Institute Company Limited (ASTRI)

ASTRI's mission is to enhance Hong Kong’s competitiveness in technology-based industries through applied research in areas including Security & Data Sciences which encompasses cybersecurity.

NanoLock Security

NanoLock Security

NanoLock delivers the industry’s only end-to-end platform for the IoT and connected devices ecosystem.

Centre for Multidisciplinary Research, Innovation & Collaboration (C-MRiC)

Centre for Multidisciplinary Research, Innovation & Collaboration (C-MRiC)

C-MRiC collaborates on initiatives, ranging from national cyber security, enterprise security, information assurance, protection strategy, climate control to health and life sciences.

Delfigo Security

Delfigo Security

Delfigo Security, a pioneer in intelligent authentication, provides a strong, multi-factor authentication solution to prevent identity theft and reduce fraud.

Madrona Venture Group

Madrona Venture Group

Madrona Venture Group invests in seed and early-stage technology companies in areas including cybersecurity.

BlackhawkNest

BlackhawkNest

Blackhawk is the only cyber security solution on the market that combines network monitoring and incident response into a cohesive appliance.

US Marine Corps Forces Cyberspace Command (MARFORCYBER)

US Marine Corps Forces Cyberspace Command (MARFORCYBER)

US Marine Corps Forces Cyberspace Command (MARFORCYBER) conducts full spectrum military cyberspace operations in order to enable freedom of action in cyberspace and deny the same to the adversary.

Progress Partners

Progress Partners

Progress Partners is a corporate advisory firm that works with buyers and sellers of emerging growth companies to complete M&A or private placement transactions. Our sectors include cybersecurity.

Securious

Securious

If you need to improve your cyber security or achieve cyber security accreditations, Securious provide an independent service that will identify and address your issues quickly and efficiently.

HLB System Solutions

HLB System Solutions

HLB System Solutions: Empowering businesses with proactive IT management, consulting, security, and cloud solutions. Seamless tech for growth!

Telenor Cyberdefence

Telenor Cyberdefence

Telenor Cyberdefence is a newly established (2024) cloud-born Managed Security Service Provider focused on the Nordic markets.