US White House puts itself at risk of hacking

The U.S. government puts itself at risk of hacking. About this reported Director of Cybersecurity Dimitrios Vastakis in an internal memo.

“The White House is again putting itself at risk of electronic compromise”, – says the document.

According to Vastakis, the July decision to turn the Office of the Chief Information Security Officer (OCISO) into the Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO) is “alarming.”

“This is a significant shift in senior management priorities when business operations and quality of service are put higher than the security of the presidential network. For me, as a specialist in cybersecurity, this is alarming”, – said Vastakis in a memo.

The document was sent after a dozen cybersecurity experts resigned or were fired from the project.

According to Dimitrios Vastakis, the White House gradually reduced the responsibilities and powers of the Office of the Chief Information Security Officer, which was created in 2014 after hackers gained access to the unclassified computer network used by President Barack Obama’s office.

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Hackers, which, according to law enforcement and media reports, worked for the Russian government, used a phishing attack on the Department of State to gain access to the White House network.

Through a cyberattack, they managed to obtain confidential information, such as Obama’s daily schedule.

Vastakis said the remaining employees from the former office are “systematically being targeted for removal” due to a reduction in their responsibilities, the removal of access to data and buildings, and the removal of decision-making powers.

“They say history repeats. Unfortunately, taking into consideration everything that I have observed over the past three months, I predict that the White House will again endanger itself with electronic compromise”, – concluded Vastakis.