2008 malware infection of the United States Department of Defense

Cyberattack on United States government September 2026 In 2008, the United States Department of Defense was infected with malware. Described at the time as the "worst breach of U.S. military computers in history", the defense against the attack was named "Operation Buckshot Yankee". It led to the creation of the United States Cyber Command.Defense Department Confirms Critical Cyber Attack http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Security/Defense-Department-Confirms-Critical-Cyber-Attack-551206/ Eweek August 25, 2010 2010-08-25 August 2026 InternetArchiveBot Military Computer Attack Confirmed https://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/26/technology/26cyber.html?_r=1&ref=technology The New York Times August 25, 2010 2010-08-26 Brian Knowlton History The infection started when a USB flash drive containing malicious code created by a foreign intelligence agency was plugged into a laptop that was attached to United States Central Command. From there it spread undetected to other systems, both classified and unclassified.http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/66552/william-j-lynn-iii/defending-a-new-domain Foreign Affairs William J. Lynn III William J. Lynn III Defending a New Domain 2010-08-25 Operation Buckshot Yankee The Pentagon spent nearly 14 months cleaning the worm, named Agent.BTZ, from military networks. Agent.BTZ, a variant of the SillyFDC worm,Shachtman Noah Under Worm Assault, Military Bans Disks, USB Drives https://www.wired.com/2008/11/army-bans-usb-d/ Wired November 19, 2008 has the ability "to scan computers for data, open backdoors, and send through those backdoors to a remote command and control server." It was originally suspected that Chinese or Russian hackers were behind it as they had used the same code that made up Agent.BTZ before in previous attacks. In December 2016, the United States FBI and DHS issued a Joint Analysis Report which included attribution of Agent.BTZ to one or more "Russian civilian and military intelligence Services (RIS)."NCCIC December 29, 2016 GRIZZLY STEPPE – Russian Malicious Cyber Activity https://www.cisa.gov/sites/default/files/publications/JAR_16-20296A_GRIZZLY%20STEPPE-2016-1229.pdf 2023-05-08 In order to try to stop the spread of the worm, the Pentagon banned USB drives, and disabled the Windows autorun feature.https://www.wired.com/2010/08/insiders-doubt-2008-pentagon-hack-was-foreign-spy-attack/ Insiders Doubt 2008 Pentagon Hack Was Foreign Spy Attack (Updated) Shachtman Noah Wired en-US 2016-10-04 References Further reading Nakashima Ellen Julie Tate 8 Dec 2011 Cyber-intruder sparks massive federal response — and debate over dealing with threats The Washington Post washingtonpost.com https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/national-security/cyber-intruder-sparks-response-debate/2011/12/06/gIQAxLuFgO_story.html 9 Dec 2011 United States Cyberattack On United States, 2008