Actual and perceived control of so many important networks could easily be used to undermine

 The actual and perceived control of so many important networks could easily be used to undermine public and consumer trust in data, written communications and services, he wrote. Members of Congress said they feared that taxpayers’ personal information could have been exposed because the IRS is part of Treasury, which used SolarWinds software.

Tom Kellermann, cybersecurity strategy chief of the software company VMware, said the hackers are now omniscient to the operations of federal agencies they’ve infiltrated and there is viable concern that they might leverage destructive attacks within these agencies in reaction to U.S. response.

CISA officials did not respond to questions and so it was unclear what it meant by a grave threat or by critical infrastructure. The Department of Homeland Security, its parent agency, defines such infrastructure as any vital assets to the U.S. or its economy, a broad category that could include power plants and financial institutions. Among the business sectors scrambling to protect their systems and assess potential theft of information are entry level computer science jobs contractors, technology companies and providers of telecommunications and the electric grid.