FBI, CISA, ODNI and NSA blames Russia for SolarWinds hack

A joint statement issued by US security agencies confirmed that Russia was likely the origin of the SolarWinds supply chain attack.

The US agencies FBI, CISA, ODNI, and the NSA released a joint statement that blames Russia for the SolarWinds supply chain attack.

On behalf of President Trump, the four agencies were part of the task force Cyber Unified Coordination Group (UCG) that is coordinating the investigation and remediation of the SolarWinds hack that had a significant impact on federal government networks. The UCG’s investigation is still ongoing to determine the scope of the incident.

According to the UCG’s statement, the attack was orchestrated by an Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) actor, likely Russian in origin.

“This work indicates that an Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) actor, likely Russian in origin, is responsible for most or all of the recently discovered, ongoing cyber compromises of both government and non-governmental networks.” reads the statement. “At this time, we believe this was, and continues to be, an intelligence gathering effort.”

The UCG confirmed that approximately 18,000 customers of Solar Winds’ Orion product were impacted, but only a smaller number of them have been compromised. The Government experts also identified fewer than ten U.S. government agencies that were impacted.

The statement dismantles President Donald Trump’s claim that the attack was orchestrated by China-linked actors and confirms the report published by the Washington Post that blames the Russia-linked APT29 group.

Recently the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has updated its official guidance to order US federal agencies to update the SolarWinds Orion platforms by the end of the year.

The Russian Government has denied involvement in the hack.

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Pierluigi Paganini

(SecurityAffairs – hacking, SolarWinds)

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