<p>Hackers broke into systems used by top US Treasury officials during a massive cyberattack on government agencies and may have stolen essential encryption keys, a senior lawmaker said Monday.</p>.<p>Senator Ron Wyden, who sits on both the Senate Intelligence and Finance Committees, said after a closed-door briefing that the hack at the US Treasury Department "appears to be significant."</p>.<p>Dozens of email accounts were compromised, he said in a statement.</p>.<p>"Additionally the hackers broke into systems in the Departmental Offices division of Treasury, home to the department's highest-ranking officials," said Wyden.</p>.<p>"Treasury still does not know all of the actions taken by hackers, or precisely what information was stolen."</p>.<p>The US government admitted last week that computer systems in multiple departments were penetrated by attackers who hacked in through widely used security software made by the US company SolarWinds.</p>.<p>Members of Congress briefed by US intelligence, as well as Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Attorney General Bill Barr, have all said Russians were behind the hack.</p>.<p>So far officials have said the hackers broke into computers at the State Department, Commerce Department, Treasury, Homeland Security Department, and the National Institutes of Health.</p>.<p>But experts have said they fear far more of the government could be affected, including US intelligence bodies, given the ubiquitousness of the SolarWinds security software.</p>.<p>Wyden said that the Internal Revenue Service had said there was no evidence that they had been compromised or data on taxpayers taken.</p>.<p>But he sharply criticized the government for not taking stronger measures to protect its systems.</p>.<p>The government "has now suffered a breach that seems to involve skilled hackers stealing encryption keys from (government) servers," he said.</p>.<p>That has happened despite "years of government officials advocating for encryption backdoors, and ignoring warnings from cybersecurity experts who said that encryption keys become irresistible targets for hackers."</p>
<p>Hackers broke into systems used by top US Treasury officials during a massive cyberattack on government agencies and may have stolen essential encryption keys, a senior lawmaker said Monday.</p>.<p>Senator Ron Wyden, who sits on both the Senate Intelligence and Finance Committees, said after a closed-door briefing that the hack at the US Treasury Department "appears to be significant."</p>.<p>Dozens of email accounts were compromised, he said in a statement.</p>.<p>"Additionally the hackers broke into systems in the Departmental Offices division of Treasury, home to the department's highest-ranking officials," said Wyden.</p>.<p>"Treasury still does not know all of the actions taken by hackers, or precisely what information was stolen."</p>.<p>The US government admitted last week that computer systems in multiple departments were penetrated by attackers who hacked in through widely used security software made by the US company SolarWinds.</p>.<p>Members of Congress briefed by US intelligence, as well as Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Attorney General Bill Barr, have all said Russians were behind the hack.</p>.<p>So far officials have said the hackers broke into computers at the State Department, Commerce Department, Treasury, Homeland Security Department, and the National Institutes of Health.</p>.<p>But experts have said they fear far more of the government could be affected, including US intelligence bodies, given the ubiquitousness of the SolarWinds security software.</p>.<p>Wyden said that the Internal Revenue Service had said there was no evidence that they had been compromised or data on taxpayers taken.</p>.<p>But he sharply criticized the government for not taking stronger measures to protect its systems.</p>.<p>The government "has now suffered a breach that seems to involve skilled hackers stealing encryption keys from (government) servers," he said.</p>.<p>That has happened despite "years of government officials advocating for encryption backdoors, and ignoring warnings from cybersecurity experts who said that encryption keys become irresistible targets for hackers."</p>