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The attack on governmental organizations and businesses using the SolarWinds software is the largest and “most sophisticated” attack ever, the president of U.S. software giant Microsoft said.
“From a software engineering perspective, it’s probably fair to say that this is the largest and most sophisticated attack the world has ever seen,” Microsoft President Brad Smith told U.S. broadcaster CBS’ 60 Minutes program on Sunday.
Smith said “certainly more than a thousand” engineers must have worked on creating and exploiting the vulnerability in the SolarWinds software.
The hack exploited business software firm SolarWinds’ Orion product to send malware to about 18,000 public and private organizations, in what is known as a “supply chain” cyberattack. Microsoft previously singled out Belgium, Spain and the United Kingdom as European countries home to victims of the attack.
Microsoft was itself among the organizations that was compromised by the hackers.
Several U.S. departments and agencies were victims too. U.S. security services last month said the attackers were “likely Russian in origin,” adding “we believe this was, and continues to be, an intelligence gathering effort.”
This article is part of POLITICO Pro’s premium coverage of Cybersecurity and Data Protection. From the emerging threats of a volatile digital world to the legislation being shaped to protect business and citizens, across sectors. For a complimentary trial email [email protected] and mention Cyber.
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