Microsoft Discovers Malware Related to SolarWinds Cyber Attack

Microsoft reveals it found harmful software in its own systems related to the massive cyberattack divulged by U.S. authorities previously this week.

Microsoft ( MSFT) – Get Report said it has found destructive software application in its systems associated with the enormous cyberattack that was divulged by U.S. officials previously this week.

The Richmond, Wash.-based software application giant is a user of Orion, the widely deployed networking management software from SolarWinds ( SWI) – Get Report that was used in the thought Russian attacks on a number of U.S. federal government agencies.

“Like other SolarWinds consumers, we have been actively looking for indicators of this star and can verify that we detected malicious SolarWinds binaries in our environment, which we isolated and removed,” Microsoft said in a declaration.

“We have not found proof of access to production services or client information. Our examinations, which are continuous, have discovered absolutely no signs that our systems were used to assault others,” the business stated.

The discovery comes following a new alert by the Department of Homeland Security’s cyber arm Thursday exposing that Russian hackers suspected of a huge, continuous intrusion project into government companies, personal business and critical infrastructure entities utilized a range of unknown methods – and not simply a single compromised software application.

Hackers believed to be connected to Russia’s foreign intelligence service placed malware into software updates for SolarWinds’ Orion IT facilities management software between March and June. This led to security breaches at the Treasury Department, the National Telecom and Details Administration, the Department of Homeland Security and a number of SolarWinds’ corporate customers.

A joint declaration released Wednesday night by the FBI, intelligence neighborhood and cyber arm of the Department of Homeland Security formally acknowledged that the ongoing cyber project had just emerged over the past “several days,” and was still active.

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Firm stated Thursday that the SolarWinds Orion software application vulnerability revealed earlier today is not the only method hackers compromised a range of online networks, warning that in many cases victims appeared to have been breached regardless of never using the problematic software application.

For its part, Microsoft has actually identified more than 40 of its customers all over the world that had bothersome versions of the third-party IT management program, and that was particularly targeted by the presumed Russian hacking project divulged this week, the business said in an article Thursday.

Microsoft said that 80% of those victims are in the U.S. while the rest are in 7 other nations, consisting of Canada, Mexico, Belgium, Spain, the UK, Israel, and the United Arab Emirates, with Microsoft President Brad Smith keeping in mind that it is “a certainty that the number and place of victims will keep growing.”

Shares of Microsoft were down 0.36% at $218.63 in trading on Friday. Shares of SolarWinds were down 0.45% at $17.52.