As reported by the Wall Street Journal, Kent State University is among 24 organizations identified as having software on their computers that gave hackers potential access to data.
According to an analysis by the Wall Street Journal, hackers may have had access to systems for more than a year.
"We are aware of the situation and are evaluating this serious matter," Kent State spokesman Eric Mansfieldin a statement to cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer.
However, Mansfield declined to elaborate further on the situation, including what kind of information may have been compromised.
The Wall Street Journal reports that Kent State computers were infected with malicious network monitoring software, called SolarWinds Orion, which allowed hackers to access the network through a so-called "backdoor" in the code.
According to the Wall Street Journal, other organizations that may have been breached include the California Department of State Hospitals, technology companies Cisco Systems Inc., Intel Corp. and Nvidia Corp., accounting firm Deloitte LLP, cloud-computing software maker VMware Inc. and Belkin International Inc.
As SolarWinds itself told the Wall Street Journal, the victims likely represented a “small window” into the breach, which could have affected up to 18,000 customers of the Austin-based company.
SolarWinds employees found the malicious code after a routine software update and detected activity by the hackers since at least October 2019. The company said it is working with security firms, law enforcement and intelligence agencies to investigate the attack, which is linked to the APT29 group, also known as “Cozy Bear,” which is associated with Russia’s foreign intelligence service.
The Wall Street Journal reported that suspected Russian hackers also breached U.S. government agencies, including the Treasury and Commerce departments. Federal cybersecurity experts have suggested that the hackers are sophisticated, with one source telling the Wall Street Journal that the government breach was rated a “10” on a scale of 1 to 10 in terms of potential severity and national security implications.
