“They (hackers) accessed the computer network used by the White House Military Office (WHMO), the president’s military office in charge of some of the government’s most sensitive communications, including strategic nuclear commands,” the Beacon reported.
Last October we reported that hackers possibly associated with the Chinese government managed to “break into a system used by the White House Military Office to issue nuclear commands”, according to the Washington Beacon.
Intelligence officials indicated that the “hack attack” took place earlier this month and involved unidentified hackers who were believed to have been using servers in China.
They “accessed the computer network used by the White House Military Office (WHMO), the president’s military office in charge of some of the government’s most sensitive communications, including strategic nuclear commands,” the Beacon reported.
This was a “spear phishing attack against an unclassified network”, according to the article.
Phishing is a way of attempting to acquire information such as usernames, passwords, and credit card details by masquerading as a trustworthy entity in an electronic communication.
Phishing attempts directed at specific individuals or companies have been termed spearphishing – in this case it was directed at the White House.
In this instance the attack targeted the most sensitive office in the U.S. government.
A compromise there would have caused grave strategic damage to the U.S.
According to White House officials the attack was identified, the system was isolated, and there is no indication that data was compromised (see article: White House Hack Attack http://freebeacon.com/white-house-hack-attack/).
This was not the first time the White House was the target of hack attacked (see video: White House Hacked http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-26aWOBrAE ).
See related article: White House Confirms Security Breach By Chinese Hackershttp://www.businessinsider.com/white-house-confirms-security-breach-by-chinese-hackers-2012-10#ixzz283VoqzuV