US Treasury "Significantly Affected" By SolarWinds Cyberattack

On Monday, Sen. Ron Wyden stated that the SolarWinds hack against the US Treasury “appears to be significant.”

According to the statement released by the Senate Finance Committee’s staff and the IRS, “the agency suffered a serious breach, beginning in July, the full depth of which isn’t known” and Microsoft has “notified the agency that dozens of email accounts were compromised.”

Sen. Wyden added that “Treasury still does not know all of the actions taken by hackers, or precisely what information was stolen,” however, there was “no evidence that IRS was compromised or taxpayer data was affected.”

Additionally, Ron Wyden accused the government officials of “advocating for encryption backdoors, and ignoring warnings from cybersecurity experts who said that encryption keys become irresistible targets for hackers.” 

Following the cyberattack, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency issued an emergency order for federal departments prohibiting the use of any products manufactured by SolarWinds. 

Besides, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley and Sen. Ron Wyden demanded the IRS to reveal if any sensitive taxpayer data has leaked in the breach. 

Sen. Wyden and the Senate Banking Committee ranking member Sherrod Brown also agreed to ask Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin to release more information on the recent cyberattack.