Russian hackers have infiltrated the email accounts of more than 20 federal prosecutors in the United States

The email accounts of employees of more than twenty federal prosecutors in the United States were compromised by the massive cyberattack of Solar winds, indicated Friday the Department of Justice of the North American country (DOJ, for its acronym in English).

In a statement, the DOJ provided SolarWinds intrusion “Additional Details”.

The cyberattack is said to have started in 2019 and penetrated U.S. government and corporate systems through a program from SolarWinds.

The information released on Saturday included a list with 27 district attorney offices in 15 states where hackers accessed “one or more” email accounts between May 7 and December 27, 2020.

These include the district offices of California, Colombia, Florida, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Texas, Vermont, Virginia and Washington.

Compromised data includes “All emails and attachments sent, received and stored, and attachments found in these accounts during this period”added the note.

The Justice Department said that although other districts were affected to a “lesser extent”, the hacker group accessed the email accounts of “At least 80% of employees” in offices in the eastern, northern, southern and western districts of New York.

Jennifer rodgers, a professor at Columbia Law School, said emails from the office frequently contained all kinds of confidential information, including discussions of case strategies and names of confidential informants, when he was a federal prosecutor in New York.

“I don’t remember anyone bringing me a document instead of emailing me for security reasons”he said, noting exceptions for classified documents.

April 15, The United States has imposed sanctions on Moscow for its alleged interference in the 2020 presidential elections and its alleged role in the massive SolarWinds cyberattack..

That day the White House officially accused Russia’s foreign spy service (SVR) for “perpetrating” the massive cyber attack.

“We cannot allow a foreign power to interfere with impunity in our democratic process”US President Joe Biden said at a brief White House conference.

For its part, the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB, ex-KGB) classified as accusations against Moscow were unfounded and said Washington “does not bother to share data which speaks of involvement in attacks by Russian citizens”.

The measures announced by the United States include sanctions against six Russian companies that support the country’s cyber activities, in addition to sanctions against 32 individuals and entities accused of attempting to intervene in the presidential elections last year, even by spreading disinformation.

Between the 10 expelled diplomats meet with Russian intelligence officialssaid the White House.

Additionally, the measures ordered by Biden include some that have not been made public, said a senior US official.

“There will be elements of our responses to these actions that will remain invisible.”he added, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

(With information from EFE and AP)

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