US State Department computers hacked, email system shut down

The US State Department is now the fourth US federal government agency to be attacked by organized hackers, with hackers targeting unclassified computer systems. The "activity of concern" did not impact any classified systems, and shows foreign state-sponsored cybercriminals are having success attacking the US federal government.

"This has impacted some of our unclassified email traffic and our access to public websites from our main unclassified system," according to a senior State Department official. The State Department tried to avoid saying it was compromised, and said routine "maintenance" would be carried out, but the Associated Press was able to verify it was a cyberattack.

In previous weeks, the National Weather Service, US Postal Service and White House have all been targeted - and likely originated from Russian-sponsored cyberattackers.