Opinion: The state-sponsored hackers are winning

To cover their tracks, the hackers replaced legitimate tools and utilities with their own and, after their time bombs were released, restored the legitimate files. — Dreamstime/TNS

Over several months last spring, hackers reportedly tied to the Kremlin slipped through digital backdoors on government and corporate networks worldwide and installed malware that sat dormant for up to two weeks. When the planted code awoke, masquerading as familiar, friendly software, it had the power to transfer and execute files, profile and disable systems, and reboot computers.

The malware piggybacking on products made by SolarWinds Corp, a major supplier of information technology software, had such sweeping authority that it entered “God-mode” – bypassing encryptions so that it could see and control everything on a network.