In an interview taped Tuesday with “CBS Evening News“, the secretary of state said it is “very likely” that Chinese and Russian hackers have managed to access his emails as part of their ongoing cyberattacks against the United States.
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Kerry’s optimism echoes that of other administration officials who predict there will be enough support in Congress to implement the deal, which would lift sanctions in exchange for limits on Tehran’s nuclear program. “It is not… outside the realm of possibility, and we know that they have attacked a number of American interests over the course of the last days”.
“It’s very possible… and I certainly write things with that awareness”, he said.
Still, as geopolitical expert Ian Bremmer noted to Business Insider in June, “there’s no effective defense against these attacks and, as we’ve seen, there’s also no effective deterrence”.
Government-sponsored hacking has long been a contentious issue between Washington and Beijing. China is suspected of being behind cyber attacks that stole massive amounts of personal data on federal employees.
The attack affected about 4,000 military and civilian personnel, though no classified information is believed to have been stolen.
NBC News reported on Monday that private emails of top US national security and trade officials have been compromised since April of 2010 by Chinese hackers.
The targeted officials have not been publicly identified.
Editor’s note: This post originally referred to Hillary Clinton as Kerry’s successor as secretary of state, not predecessor.
The cyber attacks were at top of the agenda of the Strategic and Economic Dialogue held between the US and China in Washington in late June.
U.S. officials raised the issue of cyberattacks “very, very strongly” in recent dialogue sessions with the Chinese government, Kerry said.
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Kerry said the threat of digital espionage and hacking are “of enormous concern” to the administration.
