The Biden budget includes $750 million for an all-agency response to the SolarWinds attack. This money is in addition to $500 million in funds previously allotted for cybersecurity expenses on the Federal level.
The money is earmarked to pay for cybersecurity upgrades and damage control. It is also intended to help prevent another attack on the nine U.S. government agencies that were hit by the complex hack. Even the U.S. State Department and Treasury were hit.
Massive technology attack
The hack of information technology company SolarWinds went public in December 2020. The hackers got access to thousands of companies including security firms and government offices using the God-mode key. And the key was stolen from FireEye, in a hack.
Researchers and IT experts have been concerned that weaknesses in the NSA algorithm can be and have been exploited. But the Congress has been unable to get much information. And wants cybersecurity to be a priority.
There are parallels between the SolarWinds and the 2015 Juniper hacks. Both events involve federally managed computer networks. And both put software supply chains at risk.
