Trump claims US cyber hack not as big as media reports

Donald Trump has claimed the massive cyber hack that took place was being exaggerated by the media while putting blame on China, despite his secretary of state saying the attack likely came from Russia. 

“The Cyber Hack is far greater in the Fake News Media than in actuality,” the president wrote in a tweet on Thursday, adding: “I have been fully briefed and everything is well under control.” 

Mr Trump went on to say that Russia was the “priority chant” in the media because they are “petrified of discussing the possibility that it may be China (it may!),” he wrote. 

But this starkly contrasted what Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has said about the cyber attack, which was revealed this past week. “This was a very significant effort, and I think it's the case that now we can say pretty clearly that it was the Russians that engaged in this activity,” Mr Pompeo said on Friday. 

"I can't say much more as we're still unpacking precisely what it is, and I'm sure some of it will remain classified," he added.

At least half a dozen federal agencies were the target of the massive data breach, including Mr Pompeo’s own State Department, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Energy and State. Investigators were now scrambling to determine if any data was accessed or hacked during the attack, which took place months ago. 

"Suffice it to say, there was a significant effort to use a piece of third-party software to essentially embed code inside of US government systems and it now appears systems of private companies and companies and governments across the world as well," Mr Pompeo said about the breach.

This was the first time Mr Trump has publicly commented on the attack after it was revealed last weekend. On Friday, the White House said the president was "working very hard" in handling the hack, which officials have said "poses a grave risk" to public and private sectors of the US. 

Not only was Mr Trump downplaying the severity of the attack and moving blame away from Russia, but he also attempted to turn the attention back to the 2020 election. 

“There could also have been a hit on our ridiculous voting machines during the election, which is now obvious that I won big, making it an even more corrupted embarrassment for the USA,” he wrote, continuing his baseless claims he won the election despite President-elect Joe Biden winning 306 Electoral College votes to his 232 votes. 

The hack, which was targeted through a third-party software contractor SolarWinds, has largely blindsided the US government and laid bare the vulnerabilities these government agencies demonstrate when it comes to cybersecurity. 

It prompted both Republican and Democratic lawmakers to call on the Trump administration to address the attack, but what that response might be remains uncertain amid Mr Trump disagreeing with his secretary of state on Russian involvement. 

"I think the White House needs to say something aggressive about what happened. This is almost as if you had a Russian bomber flying undetected over the country, including over the nation's capital, and not to respond in a setting like that is really stunning," Senator Mitt Romney, a Republican, said in an interview this week. 

Currently the annual defence policy bill, which passed through Congress, sits on Mr Trump’s desk waiting to be signed, and it includes several cybersecurity provisions that lawmakers said could help the US against future data breaches. But the president has threatened to veto the bill over other provisions. 

Mr Trump has a history of denying Russian involvement in attacks against the US. He famously refused to acknowledge Russian interference in the 2016 election to help him win the presidency, despite intelligence reports indicating Russia President Vladimir Putin was behind it. 

The Russian embassy in Washington DC has denied any involvement in the recent hack.