(Bloomberg) -- Attorney General William Barr said a massive cyber-attack on the U.S. government was likely carried out by Russia after President Donald Trump suggested China may have been responsible.
Barr joined other administration officials, including Secretary of State Michael Pompeo in pointing to Russia.
“From the information I have, I agree with Secretary Pompeo’s assessment,” Barr said Monday at the Justice Department. “It certainly appears to be the Russians but I’m not going to discuss it beyond that.”
Trump tweeted on Dec. 19: “I have been fully briefed and everything is well under control. Russia, Russia, Russia is the priority chant when anything happens because Lamestream is, for mostly financial reasons, petrified of discussing the possibility that it may be China (it may!)”
A wide range of government agencies and large corporations have been impacted by the hack, which installed what is known as a backdoor in widely used software from Texas-based SolarWinds Corp. that allowed hackers access to computer networks.
U.S. government agencies known to have been targeted included the State, Treasury, Homeland Security, Energy and Commerce departments. Microsoft Corp. said it had identified more than 40 customers targeted by the hackers.
©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
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