Guidance on Remediating Networks Affected by the SolarWinds and Active Directory/M365 Compromise
Original release date: March 9, 2021
Since December 2020, CISA has been responding to a significant cybersecurity incident involving an advanced persistent threat (APT) actor targeting networks of multiple U.S. government agencies, critical infrastructure entities, and private sector organizations. The APT actor added malicious code to multiple versions of the SolarWinds Orion platform and leveraged it—as well as other techniques, including—for initial access to enterprise networks. After gaining persistent, invasive access to select organizations’ enterprise networks, the APT actor targeted their federated identity solutions and their Active Directory/M365 environments. CISA has published two new resources on the follow-on activity from this compromise:
- The Remediating Networks Affected by the SolarWinds and Active Directory/M365 Compromise web page to provide actionable guidance to organizations affected by this APT activity. Although the guidance on the web page is directed to federal departments and agencies, CISA encourages affected critical infrastructure and private sector organizations to review and apply it, as appropriate.
- The CISA Insights: SolarWinds and Active Directory/M365 Compromise: Risk Decisions for Leaders supports executive leaders of affected organizations in understanding the threat, risk, and associated actions they should take in response to the APT activity. The CISA Insights specifically applies to organizations with affected versions of SolarWinds Orion who have evidence of follow-on threat actor activity.
CISA encourages affected organizations to review and apply the necessary guidance in the Remediating Networks Affected by the SolarWinds and Active Directory/M365 Compromise web page and CISA Insights. For general information on CISA’s response to SolarWinds Orion compromise activity, refer to www.cisa.gov/supply-chain-compromise.
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