❓WHAT HAPPENED: The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) declared a suspected Chinese hack a major incident under the Federal Information Security Modernization Act (FISMA).
👤WHO WAS INVOLVED: Chinese hackers, U.S. officials, and FBI personnel.
📍WHEN & WHERE: The breach was reported to Congress in March.
🎯IMPACT: FISMA-designated “major incidents” are rare, meaning the breach poses significant risks to U.S. national security.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has classified a recent cyber intrusion, believed to be carried out by Chinese hackers, as a “major incident” under the Federal Information Security Modernization Act (FISMA). FISMA guidelines classify a “major incident” as an intrusion that compromises personal data and presents risks to the national security, foreign relations, public confidence, or civil liberties of Americans.
The FBI first alerted Congress to suspicious activity on March 4, reporting that the affected system contained law enforcement-sensitive material. Although officials did not initially identify the source of the intrusion, investigators now suspect the operation was linked to China.
Under FISMA, federal agencies must notify lawmakers within seven days of discovering a cyberattack likely to cause significant harm to U.S. national security. FISMA-designated “major incidents” are uncommon and only happen a few times per year.
Officials said the compromised system contained data including “returns from legal process, such as pen register and trap and trace surveillance returns, and personally identifiable information pertaining to subjects of FBI investigations.” Pen register and trap-and-trace devices allow law enforcement agencies to monitor phone calls and websites visited by any device connected to the Internet. This information can be used by foreign intelligence to identify targets of criminal investigation and FBI surveillance.
China has carried out a number of major cyberattacks against the U.S. in recent years. Last July, The National Pulse reported that Chinese hackers had exploited vulnerabilities in Microsoft SharePoint software, breaching multiple U.S. agencies, including the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA). The same year, U.S. energy officials uncovered undocumented communication devices in Chinese-made solar inverters and batteries, raising fears of remote cyberattacks that could disrupt America’s power grid.
In 2024, under the former Biden-Harris government, a state-sponsored actor from China also breached the U.S. Treasury Department.
Join Pulse+ to comment below, and receive exclusive email analyses.
show less
.jpg){kind=link}
.jpg){kind=link}
