SolarWinds updates flagship software
The company used by hackers as a springboard to penetrate federal government networks said it has released an update to fix vulnerabilities in its network management software, Orion. SolarWind’s announcement Thursday comes in the wake of the discovery of a second set of hackers that targeted its products.
The company had already been dealing with the fallout from a massive breach when Microsoft disclosed last Friday that SolarWinds’ software had been targeted by a second, unrelated group of hackers.
The identity of those hackers remains unclear. But U.S. officials and lawmakers said they believe the first group was operating on Russia’s behalf. Moscow has denied any responsibility for the hack.
Even though cybersecurity providers like Microsoft and FireEye could not prevent the huge network breach of federal agencies, those companies’ shares are soaring. Wall Street is betting that governments and businesses will speed up purchases of the latest IT tools. This week, an iShares fund of cybersecurity stocks extended the previous week’s rally that had pushed it up nearly 10%.
