US HHS Department experienced a cyberattack aimed to Disorganize Covid-19 Response

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A spokesperson for the National Security Council, John Ullyot provided more information regarding the attack. He said, “We are aware of a cyber incident linked to the Health and Human Services computer networks. Trump administration has started an investigation regarding the incident”. It is noteworthy that a cyber-attack hit the computer systems of the U.S HHS Department. The cyber-attack was a part of the disruption and disinformation campaign designed at undermining the country’s response to the ongoing coronavirus outburst. The professionals from U.S Health and Human Service and Federal government are continuously monitoring and taking appropriate actions to secure federal networks.

Ullyot also announced that the U.S HHS Department and federal networks are currently functioning normally and efficiently. It is important that a foreign state is allegedly suspected to be behind the attack, the administration has not yet confirmed who it was, according to a US official who spoke with Bloomberg. The cyber-attack against the HHS department involved overloading its servers with millions of hits over several hours. Moreover, one of the people familiar with the matter has confirmed that the attack did not succeed in slowing down the systems of federal agency significantly. A spokesperson for HHS, Caitlin Oakley pointed out that the federal agency has decided to take extra precautions as it prepared to respond to the coronavirus outburst.

Oakley said, “On Sunday, we became aware of a significant increase in activity on HHS cyberinfrastructure and are fully operational as we actively investigate the matter. We are coordinating with federal law enforcement and remain vigilant and focused on ensuring the integrity of our IT infrastructure”. It is worth noting that Fake text messages from an unknown sender circulated warning before the cyber-attack incident. The fake text messages indicated that a person’s military friends had heard in a briefing that the president will order a 2-weeks mandatory quarantine for the nation. The message (attack) related to the HHS cyberattack was also spread by email and social media.