The SolarWinds hack has been one of the top media tech news stories to date. However, many people only see the media posts about the national government, the White House, and other big tech businesses being victims. Though, the truth of the matter is that many of the middlemen and lower shareholders that use these companies’ products are now beginning to be affected the most. It goes way beyond Microsoft Accounts. So what is being done with this intel? Who knows? Nobody really knows, but many people do know that they’ve been noticing strange behavior and increased cyberattacks on their systems since the discovery of the data breach.
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Federal Government Systems Affected by SolarWinds Hack
Which government agencies did the SolarWinds hack affect?
As mentioned, and as the media explains, there isn’t much known as to what government agencies were affected the most and what information is being told. That’s considered top-secret information. However, there is a lot more that is being discovered frequently. For example, the Internal Revenue Service stated that the Department of Treasury had been breached – which has access to billions of American’s banking information, usernames, passwords, email addresses, social security numbers, and more. Don’t think that your information is safe, and keep your guard up for any changes and suspicious activity.
State Governments Were Affected Too
It seems like everyone was affected by the SolarWinds hack, including state governments across the country.
It has been known that the SolarWinds breach also impacted most states in the United States. More importantly, these organizations have information on businesses, individual civilian accounts, and much more. Not only are state departments of treasury affected, but even their job board systems have noticed that there has been a data breach. For example, Missouri and other states have had their job-seeker websites alerted and encouraged users to change their passwords when alerted by Google due to the data breach. It’s not a failsafe, and it’s a means to realize that your personal and business information and details have possibly been exposed because of these systems.
Personal and Enterprise Accounts
Even Xbox users have been affected by the SolarWinds hack.
Microsoft is the majority leader in terms of data breaches. With that being said, even Xbox-only users have been complaining about suspicious activity and identity theft more and more. Add that to the fact that Microsoft records user information, takes data, holds passwords, and has a slew of backdoor exploits that have been a problem. It’s safe to say that your old Microsoft passwords and account information is not safe. Not only that, but many businesses have their banking information on Microsoft accounts for business expenses, Azure, Office365 business subscriptions, and much more.
Internet Service Providers Have Been Breached Too
If you’re a CenturyLink user, attacks like the SolarWinds hack might happen more often due to a lack of security measures.
Some internet providers have indicated that their systems were breached as well. Centurylink just recently settled its multi-million dollar lawsuit last year. Still, it’s come to the attention of companies like Zyxel and other router manufacturers that many internet providers don’t have requirements to keep your data safe and secure. And other companies like Centurylink have public IP addresses that leave your systems vulnerable. Of course, many AV programs suggest that you use a VPN service, but these days, even VPNs are getting targeted for cyberattacks, which poses a huge security threat.
Not only that, but larger corporations that offer nationwide internet service also have outsourced customer and technical support. Leaving millions of customers’ data in the hands of third-world countries that are known to have heightened hijacking and cyber-attacking organizations in place.
So What Do We Do?
It would be best to have the right security measures in place not to become a victim of a breach or something like the SolarWinds hack.
Of course, if your company has been involved in a cyberattack or a threat, then it’s important to step up your game. Even if you weren’t affected by the SolarWinds hack, it is important to secure your data. Furthermore, you may not be a direct user of SolarWinds products, but you may be surprised to know that some of the software or services your business uses heavily rely on SolarWinds products.
Therefore, you may consider cyber-intervention and other approaches for your IT solutions. If you ask your managed service provider or VoIP Provider in your local area about this, you may be able to have a more viable all-in-one cybersecurity solution to help protect your company, your employees, and your customers.
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