Christopher Krebs, the since-fired director of the US’ Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), recently acknowledged that the massive hacking incident officials are still trying to understand occurred during his time with the agency.
During a Sunday interview with journalist Jake Tapper on CNN’s “State of the Union” show, Krebs told the host that “the way I look at it is, yes, it happened on my watch at CISA, and we missed it.”
“A bunch of other folks missed it,” he added, before shifting the conversation and underscoring that work needed to be done now to ensure such a blow to the US’ cybersecurity network does not occur again in the future.
Reports of the hack did not begin to emerge until last week, despite the fact that it was later found hackers had infiltrated computer systems starting sometime in March. It was determined the massive operation was executed through software company SolarWinds’ Orion platform and saw cybersecurity setbacks for the US Departments of the Treasury, Commerce and Homeland Security, among dozens of other agencies and companies.
As more details have emerged, blame for the hacking attack has largely fallen on Russia. US President-elect Joe Biden’s team of advisers have reportedly gone so far as to brainstorm a variety of options “to punish” Russia. Some options are said to include sanctions and cyberattacks against Moscow.
Krebs also jumped in on the Russia blame game, telling Tapper that he’s concluded Moscow played a role in the campaign based on details and information he’s heard from intelligence experts.
“They are exceptionally good at this, particularly the foreign intelligence service - the SVR,” he said. “They’re good, they’re quiet, they’re deliberate, they’re patient, and they’re careful.”
“I think we’re just getting our arms around the scope [of the cyberattack],” the former US government official said. Krebs added he did not believe sensitive government information was leaked.
Krebs was dismissed from his post in mid-November after he stated that no voter fraud or other interference was detected in the US election, a fact that US President Donald Trump has refused to accept.
Russia has sternly rejected any accusation that it played a role in the cyberattack. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov released remarks on the matter Monday, stating, “Any accusations of Russia's involvement are absolutely unfounded and are a continuation of the kind of blind Russophobia that is resorted to following any incident.”