defenceWeb
Written by Reuters -
Suspected Chinese hackers exploited a flaw in software made by SolarWinds Corp to help break into US government computers last year, five people familiar with the matter told Reuters, marking a new twist in a sprawling cybersecurity breach that US lawmakers have labeled a national security emergency.
Two people briefed on the case said FBI investigators recently found that the National Finance Center, a federal payroll agency inside the US Department of Agriculture, was among the affected organizations, raising fears that data on thousands of government employees may have been compromised.
The software flaw exploited by the suspected Chinese group is separate from the one the United States has accused Russian government operatives of using to compromise up to 18 000 SolarWinds customers, including sensitive federal agencies, by hijacking the companyâs Orion network monitoring software.
Reuters Reuters
3 February, 2021, 7:18 pm
FILE PHOTO: SolarWinds Corp. banner hangs at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on the IPO day of the company in New York, U.S., October 19, 2018. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Suspected Chinese hackers exploited a flaw in software made by SolarWinds Corp to help break into U.S. government computers last year, five people familiar with the matter told Reuters, marking a new twist in a sprawling cybersecurity breach that U.S. lawmakers have labeled a national security emergency.
Two people briefed on the case said FBI investigators recently found that the National Finance Center, a federal payroll agency inside the U.S. Department of Agriculture, was among the affected organizations, raising fears that data on thousands of government employees may have been compromised.
SolarWinds CEO reveals hackers had access to firm’s emails for at least NINE months
Suspected Russian hackers accessed at least one of company s Office 365 email accounts by as early as December 2019
Hackers moved to compromise other Office 365 accounts within SolarWinds, according to Solarwinds CEO Sudhakar Ramakrishna
In late December, the nation s top security agencies were rocked by an unprecedented breach when it emerged SolarWinds had been hacked