HACKED: US Agencies Maintaining Nuclear Weapons Stockpile Reportedly Compromised in Massive Cyber Attack

Photo credit: Joe Raedle, Newsmaker

As part of a massive cyber attack that hit numerous parts of the U.S. government, suspected Russian hackers penetrated into the agencies that control the nation’s nuclear weapons stockpile.

According to an exclusive report by Politico, both the Department of Energy and the National Nuclear Security Administration were found in recent days to have been compromised and are now briefing Congress about the breadth and depth of the security breach.

They found suspicious activity in networks belonging to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), Sandia and Los Alamos national laboratories in New Mexico and Washington, the Office of Secure Transportation and the Richland Field Office of the DOE. The hackers have been able to do more damage at FERC than the other agencies, the officials said, but did not elaborate.

The DOE and NNSA are charged with maintaining and securing the the vast archipelago of nuclear weapons deployed across the country. Federal investigators are now diagnosing how far the hackers penetrated, but sources told Politico that the true extent of the damage won’t be know “for weeks.”

That the nation’s nuclear weapons arsenal could have been compromised adds an ominous new element to a shockingly widespread digital espionage operation that has sent shockwaves through the national security community.