RE: (S//NF) SUCCESSFUL ATTACK AGAINST PUBLIC FOIA WEBSITE

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: FOIA Collection
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 06228930
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 5
• Document Creation Date: December 28, 2022
• Document Release Date: March 20, 2017
• Case Number: F-2014-01934
• Publication Date: June 23, 2014

Approved for Release: 2017/03/08 C06228930
From:
Sent:
To:
Cc:
Subject:
Signed By:
Monday June 73 714 3:53 PM
oillas E. Wolfe;
oseph W. Lambert;
RE:15,46Pe71Successful Attack Against Public FOIA Website
Classification: Lgaiter
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Thanks
From:
(b)(3)
Sent:
Monday June 23 2014 12.45 PM
To:
(b)(3)
Cc: Douglas E. Wolfe;
Joseph W.
Lambert;
(b)(3)
Subject: RE: (540tff7successtul
Website
Attack Against lublic FOIA
Classification: ;seellf
(b)(1)
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From
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The site
was restored
to a snapshot from May 8, 2014. No data has been added to the site since that date, so no further
updates are needed. However, we did discover this morning that the eFOIA Reque
and will not be restored until next week as our developer is on vacation this week.
nality is not working,
and I agreed to put a
(b)(3)
notice on the website in the meantime, and to disable the functionality of the form
so requests cannot
be made. We
also notified OPA that the site is back up, but that requests cannot be made electronically.
Thanks,
(b)(3)
Deputy Director
C10/1M5
(b)(3)
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Approved for Release: 2017/03/08 C06228930
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From:
Sent: Monday. e 23, 2014 12:35 PM
To:
Cc: Douglas E. Wolfe; Joseph W. Lambert;
Subject: RE:LSM�ITT Successful Attack Against Public FOIA Website
Classification: _artrwiter
How far back did you need to go (i.e., how current is the information)? *What if anything will be done to update the data
on the site?
From:
Sent: Monday, June 23 2014 10-54 AM
To: Douglas E. Wolfe;
Subject: FW:1,Shitt1 Successtul Attack Against Public FOIA Website
Classification:esagQRTre
Chiefs � fyi.
From:
Sent: Monday, June 23, 2014 9:49 AM
To:
Cc: Joseph W. Lambert
Subject: FW: 4.SHI1ff7'5uccessful Attack Against Public FOIA Website
2
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Classification: Sioreklear
(UllAwl�ble3r1'he site is back up. Please pass on to CIO and D/ClOs. Thanks.
From:
Serf- mnnri
To:
ii in
23, 2014 7:04 AM
Cc:
Subject: RE: ,iliffdr) Successful Attack Against Public FOIA Website
Classification:
Hi
The FOIA ERR website is back up. As we are without programming help this week due to our developer's vacation, an
after action report will not be available until next week at the earliest.
Thanks,
CIO/IMS/RMTG
Deputy Branch Chief
Project Manager, CADRE, STAIRS
From:
Sent: Friday, June 20 2014 11-43 AM
To: Douglas E. Wolfe;
Cc: Joseph W. Lambert'
Ebitz;
Todd D.
Subject: 4640114Successful Attack Against Public FOIA Website
Importance: High
Classification:.alatEr
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Approved for Release: 2017/03/08 C06228930
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al.!) Doug, The CIA's public FOIA webs'te has been successfully hacked, and the
damage to the database is unknown. I received the note below from the deputy branch chief
who brought this to my attention.
(b)(3)
(b)(3)
(Sirn?Starting June 6,2014, the FOIA Electronic Reading Room team was notified of several denial of
service attacks on the public-facing reading room website. These incidents did not result in the website being
unavailable, and each one was reported to both and IMS management. As a result of the attacks, a (b)(3)
decision was made to apply several security patches to the website to ensure that we would not be vulnerable to
future attacks. Unfortunately, a new attack was launched, (b)(1)
n June 19 We (b)(3)
believe at that time that the site was hit with a attack. Currently, the FOIA ERR website is
�
completely unavailable.
LsAittrrSo far, we have attempted to restore the server to two different snapshots from June, with complete
restarts of the server each time. Neither attempt was successful. Our next steps are to move farther back in
time to May to see if we can restore to that point in time. We have been elevated ton-1upport with our (b)(3)
server hosting company. At this time, we do not have an ETA on when the site will be restored.
rOPA an have been notified regarding this outage.
ef,Sliitdbl.Background: CIO/IMS/RTMG runs the FOIA Electronic Reading Room on behalf of
CIO/IMS/IRRG. The website is managed separate y from the CIA.gov website, which is managed by
OPA. The FOIA ERR website/
(Ua,igia�etir We are continuing to work the problem.
becomes available. If you have questions, you can reach her at
Chief Information Review and Release Group
(secure)
IRRG: Mission Critical Information Review
e updates as more information
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