As cyber-researchers look into the Solarigate supply chain attack and measure it’s true impact, the company blamed one of its intern for a critical password lapse that went unnoticed for several years.
The password is said to have been “solarwinds123” and is believed to have been publicly accessible via a GitHub repository since June 17, 2018, before the issue was rectified on November 22, 2019.
As of this writing, at least nine government agencies and over hundred private companies have been breached in what’s being described as the most complicated and well-orchestrated attack.
Solarwinds CEO, Ramakrishna testified that the leaked password was believed to be from one of their interns who used it on his servers back in 2017. He added that the issue was reported t the security team and it was immediately removed. Former CEO Kevin Thompson seconded Ramakrishna’s statement during the testimony saying that the mistake that the intern made violated their password policies.