Planned Outage of Internet-linked Systems

Planned Outage of Internet-linked Systems

Press Statement
Jen Psaki
Department Spokesperson, Office of the Spokesperson
Washington, DC
March 13, 2015

As a part of the Department of State's ongoing effort to ensure the integrity of our unclassified networks against cyber attacks, the Department is implementing improvements to the security of its main unclassified network during a short, planned outage of some internet-linked systems.

The Department continues to closely monitor and respond to activity of concern on our unclassified network. Such activity is something we take very seriously. There has been no compromise of any of the Department's classified systems, nor of our core financial, consular, and human resource systems.

The recent increase in news reports regarding cyber incidents reflects that the Department is among a growing list of public institutions and private industries facing an increasing number of sophisticated cyber threats.

We are leading a team of dedicated experts from other agencies and the private sector that are working around the clock to protect the Department's data. We are simultaneously implementing a strategy to harden the Department's infrastructure to better protect its data not only today and tomorrow, but well into the future.

ENDS

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