Coronavirus: US health department suffered attempted cyber attack, report says

Officials reportedly believe a hostile foreign actor seemingly failed to attack the nation's health agency as it responded in real-time to the coronavirus pandemic

Officials believe a hostile foreign actor attempted to implement a cyber attack against the US Health and Human Services' (HHS) computer systems as it was responding to the global coronavirus pandemic, according to a new report.

Bloomberg News reported on Monday that HHS suffered the attempted cyber attack the prior night, in which those responsible reportedly intended to slow the agency’s systems. The news outlet cited three unidentified sources, who spoke anonymously to discuss the previously unknown attack.

HHS did not respond to multiple requests for comment from The Independent.

It was not immediately clear whether the cyber attack was successful in accessing sensitive information. Bloomberg News reported that the attempt did not impact the agency's systems in any "meaningful" way, and at least one source stated no data was taken from the systems. The White House has not commented publicly on the matter.

However, in a tweet posted around midnight on Sunday, the National Security Council wrote about unfounded claims of a national quarantine.

“Text message rumors of a national #quarantine are FAKE,” the official account tweeted. “There is no national lockdown. [Centre for Disease Control] has and will continue to post the latest guidance on #COVID19.”

Sam Vinograd, a national security analyst for CNN, responded to the post in a tweet of her own, writing that she had received texts from loved ones “about content they received containing various rumors” seemingly surrounding the coronavirus pandemic.

“They were explicitly asked the share it with their networks,” she said. “I advised them to do the opposite.”

The alleged cyber attack attempt came as the number of confirmed cases across the US exceeded 3,500, with the national death toll for the mysterious virus reaching at least 69 as of Monday morning.

Experts said the real number of cases was likely much higher, citing numerous issues the US had in testing patients for Covid-19 in the weeks after it was reported to have spread from China to parts of Asia, Europe and North America.