Microsoft failed to shore up defenses that could have limited SolarWinds hack - U.S. senator

FILE PHOTO: Microsoft President Brad Smith speaks during the Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., February 23, 2021. Demetrius Freeman/Pool via REUTERS

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp's failure to fix known problems with its cloud software facilitated the massive SolarWinds hack that compromised at least nine federal government agencies, according to security experts and the office of U.S. Senator Ron Wyden.

A vulnerability first publicly revealed by researchers in 2017 allows hackers to fake the identity of authorized employees to gain access to customers' cloud services. The technique was one of many used in the SolarWinds hack.