Security News > 2021 > January > Justice Department Says It's Been Affected by Russian Hack
The Justice Department disclosed on Wednesday that it was among the federal agencies harmed by a massive breach of government networks that U.S. officials have linked to Russia.
There are no indications that classified systems were affected, the agency said.
The department said it detected on Dec. 24 "Previously unknown malicious activity" linked to the broader intrusions of federal agencies revealed earlier that month, according to a statement from spokesman Marc Raimondi.
The statement came one day after federal law enforcement and intelligence agencies formally implicated Russia in the intrusions, which officials said were part of a suspected intelligence gathering operation.
The hacking campaign was extraordinary in scale, with the intruders having stalked through government agencies, defense contractors and telecommunications companies for months by the time the breach was discovered.
Of those customers "a much smaller number has been compromised by follow-on activity on their systems," the statement said, noting that fewer than 10 federal government agencies have so far been identified as falling into that category.