WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Cybersecurity activists are expecting a second round of Congressional questions on Friday about their companies’ responsibilities in the sprawling series of digital harassment blamed on the Russian government.
Texas-based software company SolarWinds Corp. CEO Sudhakar Ramakrishna, Microsoft Corp. President Brad Smith and FireEye Inc. CEO Kevin Mandia were expected to address a joint hearing of the House Committee on Management and Reform and Homeland Security.
Their appearance comes three days after the three testified before U.S. senators about the massive crackdown, which has seized nine American government agencies and more than 100 other agencies. Former SolarWinds boss Kevin Thompson expected to retire shortly before the bankruptcy was announced.
Hockeyers working for Moscow reportedly overhauled SolarWinds software to target their targets, spending months within government networks before they were identified.
Other methods – including some not yet known – are believed to have been used as well. Lawyers and branch experts alike are figuring out how far the hackers got and who was to blame.
Some have said that SolarWinds’ lax security practices caused the breach. Others have blamed Microsoft ‘s doorstep, saying it failed to fix known problems with its cloud software authentication infrastructure to accelerate hackers’ progress across networks. [L1N2KV071]
Speaking to seniors on Tuesday, Smith blamed Microsoft for mismanagement and other controls on the customer side, including cases “where the keys were safely and the car was left. outside. ” [L1N2KT1QK]
CrowdStrike Holdings Inc CEO George Kurtz – who spoke to seniors Tuesday but will not return on Friday – said Microsoft’s “old-fashioned” architecture was partly responsible.
Reciting with Raphael Satter; Edited by Stephen Coates