Two influential House committees said they will hold a public hearing into the Russia-based hack of government and private sector networks via SolarWinds Orion products, along with other recent attacks, on Feb. 26 at 9 a.m.
The joint hearing will focus on the need for “Congress and the Executive Branch to implement a strategy to strengthen cybersecurity across Federal government networks,” the House Homeland Security and Oversight and Reform committees said.
They also will examine “the role of the private sector in preventing, investigating, and remediating these attacks,” and the need to improve information sharing with the private sector.
The House committees will hear from top executives of technology companies affected by the attacks, including SolarWinds CEO Sudhakar Ramakrishna, and Kevin Thompson, the company’s former CEO. Also testifying will be Microsoft President and Chief Legal Officer Brad Smith, and Kevin Mandia, CEO at FireEye.
Microsoft said late last year it was touched by the hack as a SolarWinds customer, but had found no evidence that the attack had accessed its product services or customer data. FireEye, a provider of cybersecurity services, said in early December 2020 that it had been targeted by a sophisticated nation-state attack. Official news of the SolarWinds hack broke days later.
The committees began investigating the attacks on Dec. 17, and shortly thereafter were briefed by U.S. intelligence and law enforcement agencies.
