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https://www.wsj.com/articles/hackers-lurked-in-solarwinds-email-system-for-at-least-9months-ceo-says-11612317963

# Hackers Lurked in SolarWinds Email System for at Least 9 Months, CEO Says

**[wsj.com/articles/hackers-lurked-in-solarwinds-email-system-for-at-least-9-months-ceo-says-11612317963](https://www.wsj.com/articles/hackers-lurked-in-solarwinds-email-system-for-at-least-9-months-ceo-says-11612317963?mod=e2tw)**

February 3, 2021

A suspected Russian cyberattack of the federal government has breached at least six
cabinet-level departments. WSJ’s Gerald F. Seib explains what the hack means for President
Joe Biden's national security efforts. Photo illustration: Laura Kammermann (Originally
Published Dec. 23, 2020)

By [Robert McMillan](https://www.wsj.com/news/author/robert-mcmillan)

Feb. 2, 2021 9:06 pm ET

The newly appointed chief executive of SolarWinds is still trying to unravel how his company
[became a primary vector for hackers in a massive attack revealed last year, but said](https://www.wsj.com/articles/suspected-russian-hack-extends-far-beyond-solarwinds-software-investigators-say-11611921601?mod=article_inline)
evidence is emerging that they were lurking in the company’s Office 365 email system for
months.


-----

The hackers had accessed at least one of the company s Office 365 accounts by December
2019, and then leapfrogged to other Office 365 accounts used by the company, Sudhakar
Ramakrishna said in an interview Tuesday. “Some email accounts were compromised. That
led them to compromise other email accounts and as a result our broader [Office] 365
environment was compromised,” he said.

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