14 DAY TRIAL // The Department of Defense's Cyber Command issued warnings about a possibly significant cyberattack against the United States Department of State that may have occurred in recent weeks.
According to yesterday's report from Fox News, it is still unclear how much damage has been done following the security incident, who the perpetrator was and whether the operations of the institutions have been affected. Given the nature of the Department, the information cannot be divulged, making things more complicated.
A department spokesperson told Fox News, "The Department takes seriously its responsibility to safeguard its information and continuously takes steps to ensure information is protected" [...] "For security reasons, we are not in a position to discuss the nature or scope of any alleged cybersecurity incidents at this time".
The United States Department of State lacks a robust cyber security plan
The exact date and time of the incident are also unknown. However, Jacqui Heinrich, a reporter for the news outlet, said in a tweet that the attack might have taken place about two weeks ago.
It is unclear when the breach was discovered, but it is believed to have happened a couple weeks ago.According to a source aware of the huge departure of thousands of Americans and Afghans from Kabul, Operation Allies Refuge has not been affected by the breach. Nevertheless, it is assumed that the incident might be the outcome of a poor security grade. Earlier this month, the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Federal Affairs rated the State Department's information security program the lowest possible ranking given by the government model.A source familiar tells Fox the State Department’s ongoing mission to evacuate Americans and allied refugees in Afghanistan “have not been affected”. — Jacqui Heinrich (@JacquiHeinrich) August 21, 2021
The same committee pointed out that four of the department's five functional areas were futile and hence the D safety rating. The official report indicates that the significant institution does not have an adequate privacy and data protection program. Amongst the sensitive information mentioned in the Committee report were social security numbers used for passport verification, date of birth, and names.