Hackers have been accessing internal emails at the U.S. Treasury and also the Commerce Department, according to a Reuters report on Sunday.
Four people with knowledge of the incident told the news outlet that state-backed hackers from Russia may have been behind the operation.
The breach was considered so serious that it prompted the National Security Council to convene for a special meeting at the White House over the weekend, one of the sources said.
There are fears that those behind the security breach may have gained access to the internal systems of other U.S. departments, too.
Representatives from both the Treasury and Commerce Department have confirmed the hacks, with National Security Council spokesperson John Ullyot saying that the government is “taking all necessary steps to identify and remedy any possible issues related to this situation.”
According to the AP news outlet, the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security’s cybersecurity unit are both looking into the incident to try to determine the scale of the breach and track down those responsible.
Reports also suggest investigators are exploring the idea that the same group of hackers may have been responsible for the recent cyberattack on leading cybersecurity firm FireEye. The California-based company revealed last week that hackers breached its systems and nabbed software that it uses to test the defenses of its many clients, among them federal, state, and local governments.
“I’ve concluded we are witnessing an attack by a nation with top-tier offensive capabilities,” FireEye CEO Kevin Mandia said in a statement regarding the attack on his company. Elaborating, Mandia said he thought this to be the case as the breach was markedly different from “the tens of thousands of incidents we have responded to throughout the years.”
The hacks on U.S. government departments come as President Trump prepares to leave the White House after four years in office, making way for President-elect Joe Biden on January 20, 2021. Biden’s team will be keen to learn as soon as possible what, if any, data has been taken, and for what purpose, while at the same time doing what it can to shore up the government’s cyber defenses in a bid to prevent such breaches from occurring again. But with everyone from individual players to sophisticated operatives constantly attempting to infiltrate U.S. government departments, the White House clearly has its work cut out.
The absolutely absurd idea of putting a touchscreen display on a mouse isn't exactly new. Turtle Beach already did it with its Command Series MC7, which features a 2.25-inch control screen. But apparently, even that wasn't ridiculous enough for Arctic Fox Technologies. Its new Super Mouse looks like someone took the chunky old Atari ST mouse, slapped a touchscreen and scroll wheel on it, and called it an upgrade.
The result is a rather unusual-looking mouse that is now on Kickstarter, starting at $199. And as ridiculous as it looks, some of its features are genuinely intriguing.
Apple is less than a day away from launching its highly anticipated OLED MacBook Pro with a touch-sensitive screen. But it appears that the upgrade is going to cost a pretty penny. According to a report by Bloomberg, Apple is reportedly eyeing a starting price of $2,899 for the 14-inch MacBook Pro, while the 16-inch version could start at $3,399 in the US.
"At $2,899, the 14-inch model would mark the highest starting price for a new MacBook Pro model, surpassing the $2,799 Apple charged for a 17-inch version introduced in 2006," says the report. The report claims that Apple is targeting a minimum price hike of $400 for its upcoming redesigned 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models.
I've spent a good amount of time digging into the spec sheet of the new M6 MacBook Pro (14-inch), and for all intents and purposes, this is a classic Apple "chip and connectivity" refresh. It's not a full redesign. The chassis, Liquid Retina XDR panel, speakers, ports, and battery, all of them carry over unchanged.
However, the M6 brings more cores, stronger on-device AI, higher memory bandwidth on the larger configs, and modern wireless. Here’s the practical rundown of what actually improved, and whether those gains are worth your money.