Moscow likely to be behind major hack, tech firms tell Senate

WASHINGTON: Leading technology companies have said that a months-long breach of corporate and government networks was so sophisticated, focused and labour-intensive that a nation had to be behind it, with all the evidence pointing to the Russian government.

In the first congressional hearing on the breach on Tuesday, representatives of technology companies involved in the response described a hack of almost breathtaking precision, ambition and scope. The perpetrators stealthily scooped up specific emails and documents on a target list from the US and other countries.

“We haven’t seen this kind of sophistication matched with this kind of scale,” Microsoft president Brad Smith told the Senate intelligence committee.

Forensic investigators have estimated that at least 1,000 highly skilled engineers would have been required to develop the code that hijacked widely used network software from Texas-based Solarwinds to deploy malware around the world through a security update.

“We’ve seen substantial evidence that points to the Russian foreign intelligence agency and we have found no evidence that leads us anywhere else,” Smith said.

US national security officials have also said Russia was likely responsible for the breach, and President Joe Biden’s administration is weighing punitive measures against Russia for the hack as well as other activities. Moscow has denied responsibility for the breach.

Officials have said the motive for the hack, which was discovered by private security company Fireeye in December, appeared to be to gather intelligence. On what, they haven’t said.