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
Perimeter 81

Directory of Suppliers

Resecurity, Inc.

Resecurity, Inc.

Resecurity is a cybersecurity company that delivers a unified platform for endpoint protection, risk management, and cyber threat intelligence.

DigitalStakeout

DigitalStakeout

DigitalStakeout enables cyber security professionals to reduce cyber risk to their organization with proactive security solutions, providing immediate improvement in security posture and ROI.

Authentic8

Authentic8

Authentic8 transforms how organizations secure and control the use of the web with Silo, its patented cloud browser.

Clayden Law

Clayden Law

Clayden Law are experts in information technology, data privacy and cybersecurity law.

ManageEngine

ManageEngine

As the IT management division of Zoho Corporation, ManageEngine prioritizes flexible solutions that work for all businesses, regardless of size or budget.

Logicalis

Logicalis

Logicalis are a leading provider of global IT solutions and managed services.

Identiv

Identiv

Identiv is a global security technology company that establishes trust in the connected world, including premises, information and everyday items.

Nexusguard

Nexusguard

Nexusguard is at the forefront of the fight against malicious Internet attacks, protecting organizations worldwide from threats to their websites, services, and reputations.

Department of Energy - Cybersecurity, Energy Security, and Emergency Response (CESER)

Department of Energy - Cybersecurity, Energy Security, and Emergency Response (CESER)

The Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security, and Emergency Response (CESER) addresses the emerging threats of tomorrow while protecting the reliable flow of energy to Americans today.

Bowbridge

Bowbridge

Bowbridge provides anti-virus and application security solutions for SAP systems.

LaoCERT

LaoCERT

LaoCERT is the national Computer Incident Response Team for Laos.

Fugue

Fugue

Fugue ensures cloud infrastructure stays in continuous compliance with enterprise security policies.

US Secret Service

US Secret Service

The US Secret Service has a pivotal role in securing the nation’s critical infrastructures, specifically in the areas of cyber, banking and finance.

Euro-Recycling

Euro-Recycling

Euro-Recycling is a leading UK provider of Secure On-Site Data Media Destruction Services.

Africa ICS Cyber Security Conference

Africa ICS Cyber Security Conference

Africa's largest ICS Cyber Security Conference and Expo. The only platform that will proudly present top level B2B and B2C networking opportunities.

ISA Global Cybersecurity Alliance (ISAGCA)

ISA Global Cybersecurity Alliance (ISAGCA)

Objectives of the ISA Global Cybersecurity Alliance include the acceleration and expansion of standards, certification, education programs, advocacy efforts, and thought leadership.

Axur

Axur

Discover and eliminate digital fraud and risks on the web. Utilize Axur’s entire AI potential, along with thousands of bots dispersed throughout the surface web as well as the deep and dark web.

Hyperproof

Hyperproof

Hyperproof is a cloud-based compliance operations software. Launch new programs immediately, collect evidence automatically, and manage a compliance program intelligently.

Verichains

Verichains

Verichains Lab is a pioneer and leading APAC blockchain security firm with extensive expertise in the areas of security, cryptography and core blockchain technology.

Tozny

Tozny

Tozny offers products with security and privacy in mind that are built on the foundation of end-to-end encryption, and open-source verifiable software.

ITC Federal

ITC Federal

ITC Federal delivers IT cybersecurity assessment services to support agencies in meeting their security strategies and federal security compliance goals.