White House Office in Charge of Nuclear Launch Codes Attacked By Chinese Hackers

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Hackers associated with the Chinese government attacked an unclassified network of the White House Military Office last month. The attack, first reported by the Washington Free Beacon, came as the White House nears completion of a cyber security executive order. The White House Military Office, which arranges the president’s travel schedule and teleconferences with senior policy and intelligence officials, is also in charge of the strategic nuclear command codes that comprise the president’s nuclear football.

Due to the nature of the target, the attack was suspected to have come from the Chinese military’s cyber unit, the 4th Department of General Staff of the People’s Liberation Army. A senior Obama administration official told the Free Beacon that the cyberattack was a “spear phishing” attack, which uses an email to lure the targeted adversary into revealing confidential information.

While there is no indication of a breach or sign that data was compromised, officials have not yet determined the extent of the hack’s damage. A law enforcement official who works with members of the White House Military Office confirmed the Chinese attack to FoxNews.com on Monday, but it remains unclear what information, if any, was taken or left behind.

"This [White House Communications Agency] guy opened an email he wasn't supposed to open," the source said.

That email contained a spear phishing attack from a computer server in China, the law enforcement source told FoxNews.com. The attack was first reported by the conservative blog.  Spear phishing involves the use of messages disguised to appear as valid; in fact, they contain targeted, malicious attempts to access sensitive or confidential information. By opening the email, which likely contained a link to a malicious site or some form of attachment, the agency member allowed the Chinese hacker to access a system, explained Anup Ghosh, founder and CEO of security company Invincea.

"The attack originated in the form of a spear phish, which involves a spoofed inbound email with either a link to a malicious website or a weaponized document attachment such as a .pdf, Microsoft Excel file or Word document," he told FoxNews.com.