US cybersecurity agency warns of ‘grave’ threat from hacking

The US Treasury Department building (Patrick Semansky/AP)

US authorities are expressing increased alarm about an intrusion into computer systems around the globe that officials suspect was carried by Russia.

The cybersecurity unit of the Department of Homeland Security said on Thursday that the hack “poses a grave risk to the Federal Government and state, local, tribal, and territorial governments as well as critical infrastructure entities and other private sector organisations”.