As American federal authorities and cybersecurity experts rush to
identify the full scope of the SolarWinds compromise, the list of
known targets grows. The fallout from the cyberattack on the
Texas-based software company appears to be vast, with a slew of
powerful U.S. government agencies and businesses seemingly
being infected by hackers who are believed to be affiliated with
Russia.
SolarWinds says it has identified 18,000 customers potentially
affected by the incident, which saw the culprits hijack software
updates for a widely-used IT monitoring tool called "Orion" to
spread malware, seemingly with the intention of espionage. The
consequences of the brazen cyber-assault, which was first
discovered by security firm FireEye after it too was infiltrated by
the same group, are yet to be understood. But experts fear the
hackers' access could be exploited to steal sensitive information
or destroy and falsify government data, and warn it could take
years to fix.
While the full list of victims is unclear — and expanding almost
daily — Microsoft said its teams had identified more than 40 of
its customers the attackers had aimed at "more precisely and
compromised through additional and sophisticated measures."
It now seems likely the scope of the victims could be broad.
Microsoft said the initial list included security, technology and
non-governmental organizations (NGOs) alongside the
government targets. It said 80 percent of attacks that it logged
were U.S. based. "This is not 'espionage as usual,' even in the
digital age. Instead, it represents an act of recklessness that
created a serious technological vulnerability for the United States
and the world," Brad Smith, president of the U.S. tech giant,
wrote on Thursday.
"The attack unfortunately represents a broad and successful
espionage-based assault on both the confidential information of
the U.S. government and the tech tools used by firms to protect
them. The attack is ongoing," the executive continued. Analysis
is ongoing to determine which companies were impacted by the
hack, as just because an entity used Orion is not evidence that it
was actively compromised.
Internet: <www.newsweek.com> (adapted).