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The former DHS adviser Thomas Bossert said the US is currently suffering from an active cyberattack. It was supposedly perpetrated by nefarious foreign actors targeting federal institutions and major corporations. Bossert served as a top homeland security adviser to both Trump and George W Bush. On Thursday, he detailed the attack in an article published in the New York Times. He wrote in his article and said, “The magnitude of this national security breach is hard to overstate. At the worst possible time, when the United States is at its most vulnerable during a presidential transition and a devastating public health crisis, the networks of the federal government and much of corporate America are compromised by a foreign nation”.

Bossert also said the attack points to the Russian intelligence agency known as the S.V.R., whose tradecraft is among the most advanced in the world and could have compromised over 18,000 organizations, from Fortune 500 companies to unclassified networks operated by the federal government. The alleged Russian hackers have already infiltrated countless systems and covered their tracks. The security analyst said they gained persistent access which is the ability to infiltrate and control networks in a way that is hard to detect or remove. The attack may have involved as many as 425 of the Fortune 500 companies in the US. However, hackers likely attempted to gain persistent access to thousands of networks across the country.

The US public is sick, our leaders distracted, and we are under cyberattack. This isn’t about SolarWinds anymore. It hasn’t been for months. The Russians are in our networks at a very fragile time. What are we going to do about it? My ⁦@nytimes⁩ OpEd https://t.co/MeeKNSzsNh

— Thomas P. Bossert (@TomBossert) December 17, 2020

He also suggested they managed to gain complete control in hundreds of systems nationwide. Bossert added, “The logical conclusion is that we must act as if the Russian government has control of all the networks it has penetrated. But it is unclear what the Russians intend to do next. The access the Russians now enjoy could be used for far more than simply spying”. Bossert said that resolving the cyberattack would require the segregated replacement of entire enclaves of computers, network hardware, and servers across vast federal & corporate networks while remaining in operation. He said, “President Trump is on the verge of leaving behind a federal government and perhaps a large number of major industries, compromised by the Russian government. President-elect Joe Biden must begin his planning to take charge of this crisis”.