Cisco Inc. fell prey to Russian cyber-attacks

Parv Kohli

December 18, 2020

Reports last week stated that a Russian government hacking operation compromised multiple U.S. government computer networks providing the first glimpse into a dangerous new type of cyberattack: using America’s software supply chain against it. Their recent target was Cisco Systems Inc., which is the world’s biggest manufacturer of network equipment and provides crucial software and hardware that serves as the backbone of various corporate and government computer networks. Hackers inserted a malicious backdoor into SolarWinds’s Orion software that they used as a staging ground for later attacks. SolarWind's customers who accessed updates between March and June were infected with the backdoor which included as many as 18,000 customers, according to the company. The company also stated that they are investigating all aspects of this attack but there has been no impact to Cisco offers and products. Their team has identified and mitigated affected software in a small number of lab environments and a limited number of employee endpoints. The tally of networks affected by these hackers have been on a steep rise since cybersecurity company FireEye Inc. announced that it had been hacked via SolarWinds’s software on 8th December.

Abridged fromIndian Express