Port of Houston targeted in attempted cyber attack

The Port of Houston, a critical port on the Gulf Coast, "successfully defended itself" against an attempted cyberattack last month, it said in a news release Thursday.

State of play: Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency Director Jen Easterly first told a Senate panel about the attack Thursday morning, adding that she believed a “nation-state actor” was behind it.

• “We are working very closely with our interagency partners and the intelligence community to better understand this threat actor so that we can ensure that we are not only able to protect systems, but ultimately to be able to hold these actors accountable,” Easterly said.

The port said “no operational data or systems were impacted” in the attack.

Details: The hack involved the password management program ManageEngine ADSelfService Plus, according to AP. CISA along with the FBI and Coast Guard last week warned about a vulnerability in that system that cyber actors were likely to exploit.

Why it matters: Defending the U.S. against cyberattacks and cybercrime has been a key priority for the Biden administration.

• The president first took office in the wake of the widespread SolarWinds breach, which the U.S. has attributed to Russia. Since then, ransomware attacks have briefly disabled a major U.S. pipeline and a big meat distributor.