SolarWinds hack obtained emails of top U.S. Department of Homeland Security officials: AP

[March 29, 2021]  (Reuters) - Hackers suspected of working for Russia got access to an email account belonging to the former head of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which is responsible for cybersecurity, in the SolarWinds hack, the Associated Press reported https://apnews.com/article/rob-portman-hacking-email-russia-8bcd4a4eb3be1f8f98244766bae70395 on Monday.

The SolarWinds logo is seen outside its headquarters in Austin, Texas, U.S., December 18, 2020. REUTERS/Sergio Flores

The AP report said the intelligence value of the hacking of Chad Wolf, the former acting secretary of the DHS, and of email accounts belonging to officials in the department's cybersecurity staff, was not publicly known.

The DHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In the security breach at SolarWinds Corp which came to light in December, hackers infiltrated the U.S. tech company's network management software and added code that allowed them to spy on end users. The hackers penetrated nine federal agencies and 100 companies.

Last week, Reuters reported that a planned Biden administration executive order would require many software vendors to notify their federal government customers when the companies have a cybersecurity breach.

(Reporting by Maria Ponnezhath in Bengaluru, Editing by Timothy Heritage)

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