The attack on SolarWinds: an international impact

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March 17, 2022

The attack on SolarWinds with an international impact

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A disturbing trend in recent years has been the increase in cybercrime. Previously, we wrote a blog about the Hafnium hack. Unfortunately, there are several incidents where the consequences are significant. The attack on SolarWinds in 2019, now also commonly known as Solorigate, is the most unprecedented cyber security breach to date. The reason it is considered an unprecedented cyber intrusion is the global impact it entailed.

Why was SolarWinds targeted?

SolarWinds is an American company that develops software for companies to help manage their networks, systems and information technology infrastructure. Because it was a software chain attack, it managed to compromise a large number of SolarWinds’ customers, including government agencies and top companies such as Microsoft and FireEye. The customer base of key pawns in the IT industry made the company an interesting target for hackers.

An undetected attack

However, although the attack occurred in September 2019, it remained undetected until December 2020. The hackers gained access to SolarWinds’ systems and were able to inject malicious code into software updates to the Solarwinds Orion Platform. These updates were then installed by Orion software customers, including both federal agencies and leading multinational corporations. The hackers gained remote access to sensitive information, confidential data, emails and documents. The president of Microsoft estimated that more than 1,000 developers worked on it. Therefore, this is a complex and targeted attack.

The truth we'd rather not hear

The SolarWinds hack brings to light one of the greatest truths of the cybersecurity industry – no organization, regardless of its size and resources, can be immune from cyberattacks. Some of the world’s most powerful organizations with the largest cyber security brain in the world and seemingly unlimited resources were compromised.

That doesn’t mean you can’t do anything at all. Strong security makes you a harder target than the company next door. On top of that, your business is also more robust, allowing it to fend off attacks, giving you the chance to limit the damage.

We make sure your business has a security strategy. That’s how you protect yourself and your organization. Contact us so that we can look for the appropriate solutions together.