The US Department of Homeland Security disclosed that unknown threat actors targeted the network of the US Census Bureau during the last year.
The US Department of Homeland Security disclosed that unknown threat actors targeted the network of the US Census Bureau during the last year.
The United States Census Bureau is the largest US federal government statistical agency responsible for providing current data and figures about American people and the economy.
The data compiled by the agency is used by the federal government to assign over $675 billion in federal funds to local, tribal, and state governments every year.
DHS says that the threat actors will possibly interfere with the upcoming 2020 US Presidential election-related infrastructure focusing on voter PII, municipal or state networks, or state election officials directly. The bad actors might also compromise the 2020 US Census.
“Unidentified cyber actors have engaged in suspicious communications with the U.S. Census public-facing network over at least the last year, including conducting vulnerability scans and attempting unauthorized access,” reads the DHS HTA.
“Cyber activity directed at the U.S. Census could include attempts to gain illicit access to census-gathered bulk data; to alter census registration data; to compromise the census infrastructure supply chain, or conducting denial-of-service attacks.”
DHS warns that state-affiliated actors linked to China, Iran, Russia and North Korea will proceed to attempt attacks built to compromise or disrupt critical 2020 elections, as well as try to impact the US voter’s opinions and preferences.
"Federal, state, local, tribal and territorial governments, as well as the private sector, will experience an array of cyber-enabled threats designed to access sensitive information, steal money, and force ransom payments," adds the HTA report.
The Census Bureau reported that they are working with leading experts from the public and private sector to secure the security and performance of the system easy and safe to respond.
DHS' 2020 HTA comprises threat info (intelligence and operational) from several DHS agencies including the United States Coast Guard, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP).
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