- Austin-based software maker SolarWinds – along with the cybersecurity industry at large – continues to grapple with how to move forward from the massive cyber breach last year that allowed hackers access to multiple federal agencies and more than 100 private-sector companies.
- Since the start of the year, SolarWinds has debuted a new CEO as it continues its investigation into the breach and works to ramp up its own security.
- “It’s been a living nightmare for the industry, and SolarWinds has been front and center,” Dan Ives of Wedbush Securities said. “No company in their wildest nightmares wants to be the center of a congressional investigation that spawned a massive fear around threats.”
- Executives from SolarWinds, Microsoft and cybersecurity firms FireEye and CrowdStrike testified Tuesday about the attack before the U.S. Senate’s Select Committee on Intelligence. The companies are also expected to testify Friday before the House Oversight and Homeland Security Committees.
- SolarWinds said the breach is believed to be the result of hackers making their way into a number of systems by tampering with an update server on the company’s network management system.
- Once in, the hackers were able to gain remote access and insert malicious code that hitched a ride into other systems on a SolarWinds software update.
– Kara Carlson | February 25, 2021