US State Department fears hack

The US State Department fears it has fallen victim to malicious hackers. The ministry therefore closed access to the mail system for non-confidential communications last week.

An anonymous ministry official tells the Washington Post that suspicious signals have been detected on the network. It concerns the network for non-confidential communication; the systems that are used to exchange state secret information would not be affected.

The ministry has not confirmed that the victim has been hacked, but the mail system is said to have been disabled and employees of the ministry are said to be using their private email addresses for communication. Parts of the ministry’s website are also said to have been disabled as a precaution.

Hackers are also said to have recently broken into the US White House, where the network for non-confidential communications was also allegedly affected. Unknown attackers are also said to have hit the US weather service and postal service. Media suggests that Chinese hackers are behind the attacks.