Worst may be yet to come in SolarWinds hacking

The first damage assessment of a sprawling cyber attack believed to be linked to Russia has been chilling enough.

With intrusions reported across a huge swath of the government – including at the Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration – federal officials already are signaling that the worst may be yet to come.

The Department of Homeland Security’s cyber security unit has acknowledged that the full scope of the attack is not yet known, with an untold number of local government and private sector systems at “grave risk.”

More:US under cyber attack believed to be tied to Russia: Private sector, infrastructure, all levels of government at risk

FireEye hack:What you need to know about the cybersecurity attack against the US

Although federal authorities have so far traced the attack’s launch back to March, it remains unclear just how long operatives have been lurking in some of the government’s most critical agencies – including the departments of State, Homeland Security, Treasury and Commerce –and what may have been lost or compromised.

Because the attacks employed sophisticated tactics unseen in past intrusions, according to Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), eliminating the threat is expected to be even more difficult.

Where is the White House?

Most striking, perhaps, has been the White House’s silence as other parts of the government have been ringing the alarm about the cascading threat and the uncertain risk, raising questions about how the U.S. should respond.

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