Bloomberg: hackers gained access to data of 632,000 US government employees

A “Russian-speaking hacker group” gained access to the email addresses of approximately 632,000 federal employees of the US Departments of Defense and Justice during a large-scale attack on the MOVEit system on May 28 and 29. About it reports Bloomberg agency, citing a report from the US Office of Personnel Management.

According to the department, hackers exploited flaws in the popular file transfer tool MOVEit, resulting in access to government employee email addresses, survey links and internal codes. The victims included employees of the Department of Justice and various divisions of the Pentagon: the Air Force, Army, US Army Corps of Engineers, the Office of the Secretary of Defense, the Joint Staff, as well as defense agencies and field units.

The hacker group Clop, or Cl0p, claimed responsibility for the attack. According to Emsisoft threat analyst Brett Callow, more than 2,500 organizations were affected by their actions. Among the victims is government services provider Maximus Inc. and the Louisiana Department of Motor Vehicles.

A spokesman for Progress Software Corp., MOVEit’s parent company, said the company has taken steps to mitigate the impact of the cyberattack. A Westat spokesman said the company conducted an extensive investigation and, together with third-party specialists, assessed the security level of the relevant systems and reduced the likelihood of similar incidents occurring in the future.

September 3, The Daily Mirror newspaper reportedthat data about military facilities and high-security prisons in the UK appeared online after a hacker attack in early August. Hackers allegedly linked to Russia attacked Zaun’s databases. The hacker group LockBit is allegedly behind the attack.