The White House’s National Press Security Advisor, Jake Sullivan, speaks to reporters. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images)
OAN Newsroom
UPDATED 1:20 pm PT – Saturday, March 13, 2021
White House officials shied away from questions from the press about the recent Microsoft Exchange hack. Before his next personal meeting with Chinese officials, the White House’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, faced the press.
Reporters wasted no time on Thursday trying to define the government’s position on the latest China-related scandal.
In early March, Microsoft warned users that its e-mail server, Exchange, had been compromised, which allowed hackers to install malware to “facilitate long-term access” to various systems. In an effort to prevent attacks, the Microsoft Threat Intelligence Center analyzed the group’s victimology, tactics and procedures.
With a high degree of confidence, Microsoft attributed the attacks to a group it called Hafnium, a so-called “state-sponsored threat actor” operating in China. However, although the manufacturer of the targeted system itself confirmed that they knew who the attacker was, Sullivan said the White House was not so sure.
“I am not in a position to be here today to provide assignment, but I promise you that we will be in a position to assign this attack at some point in the near future,” noted Sullivan. “And we are not going to hide the ball in this. Let’s go ahead and say who we believe carried out the attack. “
A few days after the initial announcement, Microsoft even reported that the attacks were underway. Sullivan misunderstood.
“It is still going on in the sense that we are still collecting information,” he said. We are still trying to determine the scope and scale. It is significant. “
In fact, current estimates show that more than 60,000 organizations have been compromised. In addition, security teams have worked closely with Microsoft to reveal that the number of hacking attempts has tripled every two to three hours.
A senior administration official told CNN that the “window to update exposed servers” was “measured in hours, not days”.
Despite the urgency, Sullivan said at the end of the day, it is each server for itself.
“Ultimately, a lot of it comes down to the private sector, which takes the necessary steps to remedy it,” said Sullivan.