Texas company scrutinized after hacking
Before this week, few people were aware of SolarWinds, a Texas-based softwarecompanyprovidingvital computer network monitoring services to corporations and government agencies around the world.
But the revelation that elite cyberspies have spent months secretly exploiting SolarWinds’ software to peer into computer networks has put many of its highest-profile customers in national governments and Fortune 500 companies on high alert. And it’s raising questions about how soon company insiders knew of its security vulnerabilities as its biggest investors sold off stock.
Founded in 1999 by two brothers in Tulsa, Oklahoma, ahead of the feared turn-of-the-millenniumY2K computerbug, the company’s website says its first product “arrived on the scene to help IT pros quell everyone’s world-ending fears.”
This time, its products are the ones instilling fears. The company on Sunday began alerting about 33,000 of its customers that an “outside nation state” — widely suspected to be Russia — had found a back door into some updated versions of its premier product, Orion. The ubiquitous software tool, which helps organizations monitor the performance of their computer networks and servers, had become an instrument for spies to steal information undetected.
“They’re not a household name the same way that Microsoft is. That’s because their software sits in the back office,” said Rob Oliver, a research analyst at Baird who has followed the companyforyears. “Workers could have spent their whole career withouthearingabout SolarWinds. But I guarantee your IT department will know about it.”
One of SolarWinds’ customers, the prominent California cybersecurity firm FireEye, was the first to discover the cyberespionage operation. FireEye revealed this month that its own systems were breached by attackers who made off with its defensive hacking tools. Among the other revealed spying targets were the U.S. departmentsof Treasury and Commerce.
TheDepartmentofHomeland Security’s cybersecurity unit this week directed all federal agencies to remove the compromised software and thousands of companies were expected to do the same.
Among the business sectors scrambling to protect their systems and assess potential theft of information were the electric power industry, defense contractors andtelecommunications firms.
The breach has caused a crisis for SolarWinds, now based near Austin. The compromised product accounts for nearly half the company’s annual revenue, which totaled $753.9 million over the first nine months of this year.
Moody’s Investors Service said this week that it was looking to downgrade its rating for the company, citing the “potential for reputational damage, material loss of customers, a slowdown in business performance and high remediation and legal costs.”
SolarWinds’ longtime CEO, Kevin Thompson, had monthsearlier indicated that he would be leaving at the end of the year.