Tag Archive for: OBrien
Trump aide O’Brien cuts Europe trip short to deal with cyber hack
The sweeping attacks, first reported by Reuters on Sunday, prompted the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and thousands of businesses to scramble to investigate and respond to the hacking campaign that officials suspect was directed by the Russian government.
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O’Brien “is holding NSC meetings tonight and tomorrow morning and will convene a high-level interagency meeting this week,” National Security Council spokesman John Ullyot said.
A bipartisan group of U.S. senators, including the top Republican and Democratic members of the Senate commerce panel, wrote a letter to the directors of the FBI and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency requesting a report about the extent of the attacks.
Citing people familiar with the matter, Reuters reported on Sunday that hackers backed by a foreign government had been monitoring internal email traffic at the U.S. Treasury Department and the Commerce Department’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration, an agency that decides internet and telecommunications policy.
Technology company SolarWinds, which was the key steppingstone used by the hackers, said up to 18,000 of its customers had downloaded a compromised software update that allowed hackers to spy unnoticed on businesses and agencies for almost nine months.
In their letter, the senators asked for, among other things, a list of all federal agencies that are customers of SolarWinds, the categories and quantities of data that were susceptible to hacking, and any confirmed cases of unauthorized access.
The letter was signed by Republican Senator Roger Wicker, chairman of the Commerce Committee; Senator Maria Cantwell, the committee’s top Democrat; and four other senators.
O’Brien had visited Israel and France on his trip but canceled stops in Italy, Germany, Switzerland and Britain….
(LEAD) U.S. not seeing weapons proliferation from N. Korea: O’Brien
(ATTN: UPDATES with additional remarks in last 4 paras)
By Byun Duk-kun
WASHINGTON, Dec. 7 (Yonhap) — North Korea is not currently engaged in proliferation of weapons at any significant level, U.S. National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien said, adding such activity would mean crossing the “red line.”
“It would be an extraordinarily risky venture for Kim Jong-un to get into the proliferation business when it comes to nuclear weapons. It’s something that I am hoping won’t happen. We don’t see it on the WMD side -– we don’t see that happening at this point,” O’Brien said in a recent interview with U.S. online magazine 19FortyFiv, referring to weapons of mass destruction.
“I think the North Koreans understand that if they started proliferating on a significant scale — either ballistic missiles or delivery systems or in the worst-case scenario weapons of mass destruction especially on the nuclear side or biological or chemical as well — that would really be crossing a red line with not just the United States but the international community,” he was quoted as saying.
North Korea has maintained a self-imposed moratorium on nuclear and long-range missile tests since November 2017.
However, the country unveiled a new and longer-range intercontinental ballistic missile at an October military parade, indicating its continued development of weapons despite its recent lack of weapons testing.
O’Brien warned it would be “extraordinarily unhelpful” for North Korea to engage in proliferation activities.
“We have real concerns on the ballistic missile proliferation side of the ledger but on the weapons of mass destruction side, it’s something that would take the crisis to a whole other level,” he said.
The top security adviser also underscored threats posed by the North in the cyber realm.
“North Korea has a very sophisticated cyber capability and cyber warfare capability. That’s something we take seriously,” said O’Brien, according to the online report published Monday.
Regarding the COVID-19 pandemic, O’Brien said Pyongyang has yet to report a mass outbreak of the new coronavirus.
He noted the U.S. will likely be willing to assist the impoverished North if asked for help.
“On humanitarian…