indicated those investigating what’s become one of the most severe acts of cyber espionage in recent memory were looking at the possibility JetBrains was involved. The reports hint JetBrains, or one of its apps, TeamCity, was hacked, leading to an infiltration at SolarWinds, which, in turn, had one of its own tools compromised and used to hijack customer networks.
. It joined the Department of Energy, the Treasury, Microsoft, Cisco and various others who’d been affected by the attacks, which the U.S. government said appear to be of Russian origin. The Kremlin has denied it was responsible.There was little clarity from the anonymous sources, though, and Shafirov is baffled about suddenly being embroiled in the investigation. It hasn’t been contacted by anyone in the U.S.
Shafirov says its Russian ties are a likely reason for the suspicions around his company, though he claims he’s never been contacted by his homeland’s government. “It's going to be a great article in terms of the clicks, if you combine Russian hackers and the US government being hacked, and if you're able to find a particular Russian into this puzzle, it fits.”
If it was the victim of a cyberattack, it could have huge ramifications across almost every industry imaginable. For now, Shafirov says the company is going through its code to look for possible weaknesses and its servers for any sign of a hack. But the damage to the company’s trust from yesterday’s stories could be significant, he admits. Customers have already been in touch to say they won’t be using its tools until the reports are cleared up. He says the company is considering what actions to take to counter the media reports. “In our industry, this credibility that we built, this is very valuable asset... I think that the impact [of the reports] is great. And we will not just leave it as it is,” he adds.