SolarWinds Hack Was 'Largest and Most Sophisticated Attack' Ever, Microsoft President Brad Smith Says

SolarWinds hackers got access to emails at the US Treasury, Justice and Commerce departments, and other agencies.

By Reuters | Updated: 15 February 2021 11:00 IST

SolarWinds Hack Was 'Largest and Most Sophisticated Attack' Ever, Microsoft President Brad Smith Says

The breach could have compromised up to 18,000 SolarWinds customers that used Microsoft's Orion network

Highlights

The operation was identified in December
US intelligence services said Russia was likely behind SolarWinds breach
Russia has denied responsibility for the hacking campaign

A hacking campaign that used a US tech company as a springboard to compromise a raft of US government agencies is "the largest and most sophisticated attack the world has ever seen," Microsoft President Brad Smith said.

The operation, which was identified in December and that the US government has said was likely orchestrated by Russia, breached software made by SolarWinds, giving hackers access to thousands of companies and government offices that used its products.

The hackers got access to emails at the US Treasury, Justice and Commerce departments and other agencies.

[Sponsored] Samsung Galaxy S24: The Ultimate Camera Phone With Smarter On-Device AI

Cyber-security experts have said it could take months to identify the compromised systems and expel the hackers.

"I think from a software engineering perspective, it's probably fair to say that this is the largest and most sophisticated attack the world has ever seen," Smith said during an interview that aired on Sunday on the CBS programme 60 Minutes.

The breach could have compromised up to 18,000 SolarWinds customers that used the company's Orion network monitoring software, and likely relied on hundreds of engineers.

SolarWinds Hackers Linked to Known Russian Spying Tools, Investigators Say

"When we analysed everything that we saw at Microsoft, we asked ourselves how many engineers have probably worked on these attacks. And the answer we came to was, well, certainly more than 1,000," Smith said.

US intelligence services said last month that Russia was "likely" behind the SolarWinds breach, which they said appeared to be aimed at collecting intelligence rather than destructive acts.

Russia has denied responsibility for the hacking campaign.

Can Realme X7 Pro take on OnePlus Nord? We discussed this on Orbital, our weekly technology podcast, which you can subscribe to via Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or RSS, download the episode, or just hit the play button below.

Affiliate links may be automatically generated - see our ethics statement for details.

Comments

For the latest tech news and reviews, follow Gadgets 360 on X, Facebook, WhatsApp, Threads and Google News. For the latest videos on gadgets and tech, subscribe to our YouTube channel. If you want to know everything about top influencers, follow our in-house Who'sThat360 on Instagram and YouTube.