Inside the SolarWinds Attack: What Went Wrong?
In one of the most devastating cyberattacks in history, the SolarWinds breach exposed the vulnerabilities of even the most sophisticated digital infrastructures. The attack didn’t just compromise one company—it infiltrated thousands of organizations, including major U.S. government agencies and Fortune 500 firms. For anyone pursuing a Cyber Security Weekend Course in Kolkata , this incident is more than a headline—it’s a case study in modern cyber warfare. Let’s break down what really happened during the SolarWinds attack, how it unfolded, and what critical security lessons emerged from the wreckage. What Was the SolarWinds Attack? The SolarWinds attack was a supply chain attack that began sometime in March 2020 but wasn’t discovered until December 2020 . Hackers managed to insert malicious code—later known as SUNBURST —into a routine software update for SolarWinds' Orion platform, a widely used IT management tool. This malware-ridden update was then distributed to over 18,0...