NNSA Head computer account hacked!
From The Smoking Gun:
The
Obama administration official who heads the agency responsible for
maintaining the country’s nuclear stockpile as well as securing “loose
nukes” worldwide is the latest victim of “Guccifer.”
Neile
Miller, acting administrator of the National Nuclear Security
Administration (NNSA) recently had her Facebook account breached by the
notorious hacker, who also apparently illegally accessed one of Miller’s
personal e-mail accounts.
In 2010, Obama nominated Miller, 55,
for the principal deputy administrator’s post at NNSA (she was confirmed
by the U.S. Senate in August 2010). Following the departure of the
agency’s administrator in January, Miller stepped up into the post of
acting administrator.
Miller, who has top secret security
clearances, runs an agency with a broad portfolio of nuclear-related
responsibilities, including managing and securing the nation’s nuclear
weapons and keeping weapons of mass destruction “out of the hands of
state and non-state actors.” The NNSA has a $12 billion annual budget,
2500 employees, and 35,000 other contract workers.
Based on
screen grabs sent to TSG by “Guccifer,” it does not appear that the
hacker accessed any confidential or sensitive material from Miller’s
accounts. Though the online outlaw did make sure to swipe photos of
Miller with Obama at a White House meeting last year and--as seen
above--a shot of her posing at the president’s right shoulder in the
Oval Office. The hacker added the oval “Guccifer” logo to the photo.
Through
an NNSA spokesperson, Miller--who last month announced that she was
leaving her government post effective June 14--declined to comment
beyond noting that “these were personal accounts and no classified
information was accessed.”
While it is unclear how Miller was
hacked, she was likely an attractive target for “Guccifer” due to her
governmental position. The hacker has recently broken into the personal
e-mail account of the Obama administration official who heads the
National Intelligence Council and the appointee who runs the Pension
Benefit Guaranty Corporation.
Several months into an online
strafing campaign, “Guccifer” appears unconcerned about the law
enforcement effort to capture him/her/them. “My end is far,” the hacker
noted in an e-mail “Remember this is another chapter of the game.”
23 comments:
So.. why hasn't NNSA banned administrators and contractors with clearances from having facebook, linkedin, and other social networking accounts? I mean, really. Does an NNSA administrator need a facebook account announcing to the world info regarding who is in their social network? The answer is no. The same goes for contractors.
Good idea. While we're at it, let's take away their phones, their home internet connections, and all their cell phones. In fact, why should they be allowed to live in a house where somebody might come up to the door, or see them cutting their lawns? They don't really need that.
Did you read the article? There was NO IMPACT from this non-event. They got hacked like thousands of others do every day. No secrets were exposed, no classified compromised.
Do you just enjoy depriving people of their freedoms?
June 15, 2013 at 1:30 PM is right. An NNSA administrator getting hacked in this way gives the tax-payers no confidence that they can protect more sensitive information that a slightly more sophisticated hacker may be able to get at
It's only if the whole world is able to see all of your phone records (which they can't). That takes some work. However, with your social network, it's free for everyone to see. So June 15, 2013 at 11:17 AM is just being a loudmouth ignorant ahole.
Well, it's just a huge embarrassment for an organization (NNSA) with an emphasis on "Security" is so bad when it comes to security operations (Y12) and even cybersecurity (as with the breach). So bad.
Sorry, idiots. Hundreds of thousands of people deal with classified all the time and participate in socialmedia. We know how to keep work separate from personal.
If you feel that we need to establish MORE regulations that cost you MORE money to enforce, while removing MORE of your freedoms, I'm just glad there aren't more than the few of you that hang out here.
June 15, 2013 at 5:05 PM
You'll be the first to complain about government inaction when you are targeted. It is unwise to be publicly known as a holder of a Q clearance. I hope your family knows what danger they are in.
I doubt that Neile Miller knew anything worth stealing.
As the old saying goes "What has this to do with the price of tea in China?"
Her FACEBOOK account gets hacked. Since when did NNSA have anything to do with the running of that web site?
Can we blame the Y12 security fiasco on Google?
This is an uninformed knee jerk reaction posting only worthy of a member of congress.
All managers are immune from criticism about these mess-ups at the NNSA and their labs. Isn't that clear by now?
Only the peons are at risk and will now be required to take attentional online training to cover for the screw-ups of NNSA management. Same as it ever was.
June 15, 2013 at 9:38 PM is right. If you have a clearance, don't advertise any indication of that to the broad public. That is simply common sense. Even Miller would agree to that statement.
...then going on to reveal to the world your entire social network goes a very big step in the wrong direction.
June 15, 2013 at 5:05 PM
You'll be the first to complain about government inaction when you are targeted. It is unwise to be publicly known as a holder of a Q clearance. I hope your family knows what danger they are in.
June 15, 2013 at 9:38 PM
Yes, they absolutely do know what danger they are in.
We have all taken the recommended firearms and marksmanship training, and we have an adequate supply of weapons and ammunition at home. We have a complete surveillance system installed at home. and we always keep blinds drawn and doors securely locked.
When in public, all members of my family wear dark clothing, including hoods and ski masks (except when we have to enter a bank). My wife and children are prohibited from talking with anybody that we have not pre-screened.
Use of the internet is not allowed in my household. Anonymous use at the public library is occasionally permitted (like now), but no use of social media, ever.
We do not have a land-line at home. All phone use is by pre-paid anonymous cell phones, which are smashed and discarded after 5 uses.
We eat only canned food with intact labels.
I have a super-filtration system to process all water.
I have a number of bug-sweepers which I use at least once a week to survey the house, all vehicles, and all personal possessions.
These are just the standard precautions that all holders of Q clearance are trained to use. I know that our odds of surviving are slim, but we do what we can.
That's the kind of lame reasoning you hear from people who are so low on the totem pole that even if they have been had, they probably would never know it, and they aren't even important enough to be connected to someone worth hacking. You obviously don't take infosec seriously or remember serious but avoidable incidents caused by social engineering attacks, and all for what? the right to friend and be friended by people?
These are just the standard precautions that all holders of Q clearance are trained to use. I know that our odds of surviving are slim, but we do what we can.
June 17, 2013 at 11:28 AM
"trained to use"??? By whom?? Your rant is either ironic (if you even understand the word) or just plain scary. The "hunting and fishing" guy is clapping for you. Assuming you are being funny (not), your outrageous reaction to using a little common sense when considering publicly advertising yourself as being privy to US Top Secret RD nuclear weapon design information is just stupid. If you think there is no risk, please rethink, or at least give up your Q clearance, because you are a risk to the rest of us. OPM, are you listening?
Wow. The naivete on this blog is quite amazing. No matter how outrageous the posting, some of you folks always take it seriously.
I think the "outrageous reaction" was June 15, 2013 at 9:38 PM, who seemed quite concerned about the danger to the families of clearance-holders.
Get some perspective, people. All clearance holders are trained in how to hold a clearance. I don't know of anybody who "publicly advertises" their clearance, on social media or anywhere else (including, by the way, the subject of the original article).
We understand the risks and how to handle them. Implying that the family of a clearance-holder is in "danger" is just not rational.
Social engineering attacks have been a big problem in government. The so called training you receive is inadequate against sophisticated attacks. There are many types of attacks that most of you have never seen of heard. Current training only covers the bare minimum aiming for the lowest common denominator. As a policy measure, high ranking NNSA staff should refrain from any use of social networking tools. Those who work in the cyberattack arena know full well that employees tend to "click links" more readily when instructions to do so come from their superiors, regardless of the training level. There is your attack vector right there.
And why would an NNSA administrator need a Facebook site anyways? To accumulate the largest number of "friends" as a necessary part of their work? Their bio is on the NNSA website. The complete list of who is in their social network is sensitive information simply because it is so useful for an attacker and it can be leveraged over and over and over again whether to attack the administrator or to seek out other big fish to attack.
Don't bother countering the denyer. He cannot speak to the issue the way you did just now. His analogies are piss poor as always and he has been embarrassingly wrong on many many occasions. He does not know anything about cyberattacks and social engineering. All he knows is his need to preserve NNSA administrators' his given right and work-justifiable need to use Facebook. I'm convinced that the guy is not a troll but rather he is just poorly informed and not able to make good defendable arguments considering the so many times he has been wrong. He just doesn't know enough about many topics to make good arguments but for whatever reason insists on being heard.
OK. Please educatee me. How much danger is your family in? What do you do about it?
None of this applies to people low on the totem pole like yourself.
Nice try.
So after all the pontificating, you agree.
There you have it folks!
You are wrong. Social network information create the easiest entry points for cyber attacks against people who work in protected information enclaves. That is a fact. Therefore the conclusion is self evident since social networking is purely a recreational pastime. The NNSA admin's social network info can be used against others so the full damaga has yet to be realized. Read up about how much social engineering attacks impact government IT systems. But your only argument is based on personal liberties when in fact personal responsibility and accountability are the important factors for those who have to protect information within NNSA. You are again wrong sir. You were wrong on the topic of private funding for basic research. You were wrong on many other topics. And you are also wrong on you own arguments about the NNSA admin's irresponsible behavior in being had because of what resulted from her broadcast of her entire social network to the world including the PLA. What damage did she cause? Again the full damage to NNSA or other agencies hasn't been fully realized and her social network combined with others will surely be combined to help FIS in their electronic warfare pursuits. Proving again that you are wrong. You changing the question does not make you right, by the way. But nice try but we're smarter than that.
What does protecting information have to do with protecting the family? WTF? Are you stupid? trying to reframe the question so far into the absurd as the only you can think of for winning an argument? Pretty sad, you pathetic fool.
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