Russia is the “chief suspect” behind a cyber attack that has taken the Joint Chiefs unclassified email network offline for nearly two weeks, a U.S. official said Thursday.
The cyber attack on the Pentagon network was a “sophisticated attack,” meaning it likely came from a state actor, the official said.
“Russia would certainly be a suspect, but attribution is nearly impossible to do with 100 percent certainty in the cyber domain,” the official said.
The Joint Chiefs unclassified email server went down on July 26 and has remained offline for 12 days as personnel work to get it working again.
Capt. Jeff Davis, a Pentagon spokesman, said the hack is a chance for the department to bolster its cyber defenses.
“We have full confidence in the integrity of the department’s networks and systems upon which we conduct critical operations,” he said. “While any intrusion or attack upon our networks is troubling, each attempt to intrude upon our networks offers a learning opportunity to improve our ability to effectively respond and bolster our cyber defenses and network security.”
Officials have emphasized that no type of classified information, including war strategy or planning, takes places on the network that was hacked. All classified networks remain secure.
