Solarwinds Hack

Aug. 11th, 2021

In early 2020, the software security company Solarwinds pushed a routine software update to all 33,000 of their customers, of which only about 18,000 were estimated to have downloaded the new software. The update was for their product Orian, a software that watches everything on a company's network. Unbeknownst to Solar Winds or their clients, the update contained tampered code.

Within an instant, after a company followed through with the update, hackers had access to a backdoor into companies’ networks. The hackers were able to keep the backdoor hidden for nine months while continuing to add spyware into these networks.

One way the hackers were able to stay undetected within the systems of so many computers was by mimicking the formatting and syntax of Orion’s communication methods. This would allow them to look nearly identical to the existing software that computers expected to see and helped keep them under the radar for such an extended amount of time.

The hack, believed to be a cyberattack from Russia, turned out to be a real head-scratcher. They were in the networks of the biggest government agencies, security companies, and tech companies for nine months and it is still unsure what they did with that access. Few companies have found the hackers exploit in their network and it is unknown if the hackers were planting any malicious code to execute in the future.

Now that the hack has been found out and stopped, the lasting effects of this hack are still widely unknown. It is unclear whether the hackers have finished or if they left backdoors in undetected places and are simply waiting before doing something even more sinister. That being said, the hacks have left hundreds of companies and thousands of employees vulnerable to being exploited.

This extraordinary hack was performed by a talented team. Their work was completely untraceable which is why so much is unknown about the contents and intention of this Solar Winds Hack.

The supply chain is increasingly becoming an entry point for hackers, and Solarwinds is just one of many examples of weak cyber defense within the supply chain. SecureState’s Supply Chain Assessment can help you understand where you’re vulnerable and how to prevent attacks. Get a demo today!

SecureState uses a combination of automated tools and manual testing to provide a hybrid approach that includes proactive and reactive security testing activities. Our team has decades of cybersecurity experience with some of the largest tech companies including AWS, VMware, Google and Nintendo.

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