I lost 25 pounds in 20 days': what it's like to be on the frontline of a global cyber-attack

"Tim Brown will remember 12 December 2020 for ever. It was the day the software company SolarWinds was notified it had been hacked by Russia. Brown, the chief information security officer at SolarWinds, immediately understood the implications: any of the company's more than 300,000 global clients could be affected too. The exploit allowed the hackers remote access to the systems of customers that had installed SolarWinds' network software Orion,"

"Brown says he was running on adrenaline in the first few days after the attack. It was during the early stages of the Covid pandemic when full-time work-from-home was the norm, but the company's email was compromised and couldn't be used to communicate with staff. We gave up on the phones and just everybody came into the office and we got Covid testing, Brown says. I lost 25 pounds in about 20 days just going, going, going."

On 12 December 2020 SolarWinds was notified of a Russian hack that compromised its Orion network software. The exploit gave hackers remote access to systems of customers who installed Orion, affecting more than 300,000 global clients including the US Treasury and the NTIA, plus thousands of companies and public institutions. Tim Brown, SolarWinds' chief information security officer, led emergency response amid early Covid work-from-home conditions while company email was compromised. The company switched to Proton and Signal, staff met in person for coordination and Covid testing, and Brown handled urgent calls from global companies and agencies including the US Army and Operation Warp Speed. The incident underscored the need for prepared verbal communications from CISOs.

Read at www.theguardian.com