[Asia Economy Reporter Cho Hyun-ui] Brad Smith, President of Microsoft (MS), described the large-scale hacking incident confirmed at the end of last year targeting U.S. government department systems as "the highest level ever in terms of the scope and sophistication of the attack."
On the 14th (local time), Smith appeared on CBS's current affairs program '60 Minutes' and stated, "From a software engineer's perspective, this incident is the most extensive and sophisticated hacking attack the world has witnessed so far."
The hacking, first identified in December last year, involved hacking SolarWinds' network software to create a backdoor for covert access.
It is known that numerous government departments and companies using SolarWinds' services, including the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Department of State, Department of the Treasury, MS, and Intel, were attacked. The U.S. government has pointed to Russia as behind the hacking, but Russia denies responsibility.
Smith estimated, "As a result of this hacking, 18,000 customers using SolarWinds' 'Orion' software may have been exposed to risk," and added, "The number of engineers involved in the hacking attack is likely to exceed 1,000."
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