By Raphael Satter
(Reuters) – U.S. senators have called on the National Security Agency and the Department of Homeland Security to aggressively protect health and research organizations amid the coronavirus outbreak.
In a letter sent Monday, Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut and Republican Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas, along with three others, asked the NSA and the DHS to consider action against hackers who threatened the healthcare sector.
“We urge you to take all necessary measures to protect these institutions during the coronavirus pandemic,” said the letter, which was addressed to DHS’ Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and NSA’s Cyber Command – which spearheads the military’s online operations.
At one point, the letter urged the agencies to consider operations to “defend forward” – a phrase often used as a euphemism for hacking.
The DHS and the NSA did not immediately return messages seeking comment on the letter.
Cybersecurity concerns have been bubbling in the background as the coronavirus rages across the world. Some cybersecurity experts have warned that hackers’ success rates are going up amid the economic turmoil and changing patterns of work triggered by the virus’ spread.
Reuters has recently documented attempts by state-backed groups to break into the World Health Organization amid the outbreak. Last week, a senior FBI official warned that advanced hackers were also targeting U.S. research institutions involved in working on treatments for the disease.
At least some of the moves called for in the letter – such as issuing guidance and calling out malicious actors publicly – are being carried out already.
The DHS and other government bodies have worked to raise awareness of digital threats stemming from the outbreak. Last week, a coalition of different U.S. government bodies recently issued a joint advisory on North Korean cyber operations.
(Reporting by Raphael Satter; editing by Jonathan Oatis)
