Hackers linked to the Russian Federation hacked the systems of the Ministry of Finance and one of the departments of the US Department of Commerce, Reuters and The Washington Post reported.

According to media reports, the attackers gained access to the systems in the spring of 2020 and since then have been monitoring the e-mail of departments for months.

The reason for the hack may be updates of the IT company SolarWinds. The attack could also affect other departments, as the company serves many US government agencies.

The New York Times called the hack one of the largest attacks on American government systems in the last five years.

SolarWinds confirmed the fact of hacking and stated that the attackers are related to a foreign country.

The Washington Post writes that the hacker group Cozy Bear (also known as ART29) is behind the attack. According to the publication, she works for the Foreign Intelligence Service of the Russian Federation.

Cozy Bear has previously been linked to an attack on the US Democratic Party.

In Russia, the information that appeared in the media was called baseless and denied involvement in hacking.