Fire Eye, one of the largest cybersecurity companies in US, faces cyberattack - Russia suspected

Washington: – US company ‘FireEye’, known as a leading company in the cybersecurity sector, came under a cyberattack. This company is a cybersecurity provider for many US government departments including defence, leading companies and many health agencies around the globe. It is believed that this attack was carried out to steal sensitive information of some of the client government departments. Although the company has not mentioned any country names in the statement, Russian hand is suspected in the cyberattack.

Chief of the company, Kevin Mandia, declared the information regarding the cyberattack, through a statement. He claimed in the statement that a group with ultramodern, super-advanced technology and having government backing has carried out this attack. Mandia clarified that the attackers have used technology, never used before, for the cyberattack. The company said that the ‘Red Team Assessment tools’, the utility used for checking the cybersecurity of the client organisations were targeted. The statement clarifies that the objective for targeting the tools could be to collect information of the linked government departments.

Although the company statement does not specify any country, indications are of a Russian hand in the cyberattack. Some of the US media have claimed that Russian secret agency ‘SVR’, had a hand in the attack. FireEye had played an important role in exposing the Russian connection to the cyberattacks carried out in the United States and allies. The company had also assisted in the investigation of these Russia cyberattacks. A few days ago, the US National Security Agency had alerted of a possible cyberattack from Russia.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation has taken over the investigation of the cyberattack, on FireEye and even Microsoft is assisting the bureau in the investigation.