Former Microsoft COO Bob Herbold on Big Tech earnings reports.
Microsoft, one of the most notable targets of the alleged Russian-linked hacking group behind SolarWinds’ recent breeding intrusion, announced on Thursday that the spies had access to some of the company’s source code used to build software products.
The good news for the tech giant is that according to the Seattle company, no damage was apparently done.
“We have detected unusual activity with a small number of internal accounts and upon investigation we discovered that one account was used to view source code in a number of source code repositories,” Microsoft wrote in an update on the hack on Thursday. “The account had no permission to modify any code or engineering systems, and our investigation further confirmed that no changes were made.”
| Ticker | Safety | Last | Alter | Alter% |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MSFT | MICROSOFT CORP. | 222.42 | +0.74 | + 0.33% |
Thousands of corporations and government agencies are affected by the cyber-spying operation, which has put malicious code into the flagship software product of Solarwinds in Austin to look at the central networks of companies and the government.
U.S. officials blamed Russia, but the Kremlin denied the allegations.
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The company said that its investigation, apart from its own code, found no evidence of access to production services or customer data and that no indications were found that our systems had been used to attack others.
Microsoft did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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Solarwinds said 18,000 customers were affected by the hack, including many Fortune 500 businesses and numerous government agencies.
The massive operation was discovered earlier this month when cybersecurity firm FireEye revealed it had been hacked. FireEye CEO Kevin Mandia said the attack was “by a country with offensive capabilities”.
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“They are highly trained in operational safety and are executed with discipline and focus,” he wrote in a blog post on December 8.
“They operated secrets using methods to counter security tools and forensic investigations. They used a new combination of techniques that we or our partners had not seen in the past.”
| Ticker | Safety | Last | Alter | Alter% |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SWI | SOLARWINDS CORPORATION | 14.95 | -0.02 | -0.13% |
Meanwhile, Solar Winds has taken a hit since the news of the attack became known. In the past month, the company’s share has fallen by more than 34%. In addition, people like Truist Securities and Baird have both downgraded SolarWinds shares from a buy to hold, and both also expect the share price target to drop to around $ 15. The stock closed at New Year’s Eve at $ 14.85 a share.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.