Port of Houston target of suspected nation-state hack

[Sophia Kingsbury <sophia.kingsbury () riskbasedsecurity com>]

https://apnews.com/article/business-technology-rob-portman-1e9ff8dac8dbb500d15661c816c22084

A major U.S. port was the target last month of suspected nation-state
hackers, according to officials.

The Port of Houston, a critical piece of infrastructure along the Gulf
Coast, issued a statement Thursday saying it had successfully defended
against an attempted hack in August and “no operational data or systems
were impacted.”

Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency Director Jen Easterly
initially disclosed that the port was the target of an attack at a Senate
committee hearing Thursday morning. She said she believed a “nation-state
actor” was behind the hack, but did not say which one.

“We are working very closely with our interagency partners and the
intelligence community to better understand this threat actor so that we
can ensure that we are not only able to protect systems, but ultimately to
be able to hold these actors accountable,” she said.

Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, said the hack was “concerning” and said the U.S.
needed to “push back against these nation-state actors who continue to
probe and to commit these crimes against our public and private sector
entities.”

The hack involved ManageEngine ADSelfService Plus, a password management
program. Easterly’s agency, the FBI and the U.S. Coast Guard issued a joint
advisory last week warning that the vulnerability in the software “poses a
serious risk” to critical infrastructure companies, defense contractors and
others.

Cybersecurity has become a key focus of the Biden administration. A
devastating wave of cyberattacks has compromised sensitive government
records and at times led to the shutdown of the operations of energy
companies, hospitals and schools.

The SolarWinds espionage campaign, which the U.S. government said was
conducted by Russian hackers, exposed the emails of 80% of the accounts
used by the U.S. attorneys’ offices in New York and affected several other
departments. The Associated Press reported in June that suspected Chinese
state hackers had recently targeted telecommunications giant Verizon and
the country’s largest water agency.

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