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| The White House: 100 Companies Affected by SolarWinds Hackers |
The US government released the latest data on the number of companies and federal agencies affected by the recent SolarWinds hack.
A White House cybersecurity official said the US government's investigation of the SolarWinds hack could take at least several months. It was the first time that the Biden government had made a public assessment of the seriousness of alleged Russian espionage activities.
“Hackers targeting at least 9 federal agencies and at least 100 private sector companies have been hacked,” Ann Neuberger, the deputy national security advisor, said at a news conference, but she refused to reveal the names of some of the organizations.
Neuberger said that although these hacking attacks were likely from the Russians, they were still launching attacks from the United States.
Although Neuberger warned that the investigation is still in its early stages and more violations may be identified, the most recent figures showed that fewer than 250 companies and federal agencies have already reported casualties.
This vulnerability enables hackers to launch highly customized attacks aimed at infiltrating specific targets.
Although the hackers did not attempt to gain additional access to all of these programs, an estimated 18,000 SolarWinds customers have received malicious code.
Hackers first appeared late last year when they discovered they were violating SolarWinds' monitoring and management software, which is used by many government agencies and companies.
According to reports, companies like Intel, Nvidia, Cisco, Belkin and VMWare have found infected computers on their networks, and the Department of Agriculture, Trade, Energy, Homeland Security, Justice, and Treasury are also at risk. a hit.
The federal judicial system and the United States Postal Service are also investigating whether the two have been compromised.
Although the Department of Justice has stated that approximately 3% of hackers' email accounts are at risk, it remains unclear what data the hackers have accessed.
The scale of the attack means it could take several months for the government to complete the investigation. As part of this process, Newberg said: The government plans to take future steps to address the weaknesses that the investigation has revealed so far. There are also discussions about how to deal with criminals.
Newberg's comments come as US lawmakers and political analysts ask who is directing the Biden administration's response to the abuse, especially if key positions remain vacant, including the cyber security of the Department of Homeland Security and the director of the Office of Infrastructure Security.