Missing the Big Picture from the SolarWinds Hack

The cybersecurity industry is consumed with scale and effectiveness of one of the biggest hacks in recent memory. The emerging narrative and stories are missing important pieces of the puzzle. The attackers, likely a nation-state, gained unprecedented access to the U.S. government, military, critical infrastructure, and most major businesses.

The full scope and reasons are not clear, but it is imperative to figure out. The mystery must be solved, for the benefit of everyone, so we can prepare for what is next.

Due to the sophistication of this attack, it is believed that a major Nation-State is behind it. No surprise there.

The Treasury and Commerce departments reported surveillance of internal emails. FireEye determined that their RedHat hacking tools were stolen.

But here is the problem. We are missing a very important piece to this puzzle.

This could be one of the best hacks of the decade. Unprecedented access by a nation-state into the government, intelligence apparatus, military, business, critical infrastructure, and the industrial base. Enabling a capability to persist, and undermine the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of systems critical to the…