Russian spy chief denies responsibility for SolarWinds hack

Russia’s spy chief is denying that his country is responsible for the cyberattack on IT group SolarWinds.

Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) Director Sergei Naryshkin, a close ally of President Vladimir Putin, said the claims that his nation is behind the cyberattack resemble “a bad detective novel,” according to Reuters.

Last month, President Biden formally named the SVR as the culprit behind the cyberattack, which has become one of the largest cyber espionage attacks in U.S. history.

Hackers gained access to as many as 18,000 customers, and compromised nine federal agencies and 100 private-sector groups. A small number of the customer systems, however, were compromised by follow-on activity.

The Biden administration sanctioned Russia over the attack.

When directly asked if SVR was responsible for it, Naryshkin said he would be “flattered” if the SVR had been behind such a complex offensive, but said he could not “claim the creative achievements of others at his own,” according to Reuters.

Naryshkin said he did not want to blame the U.S. for being behind the attack, but cited documents leaked by former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden to indicate that the tactics used to carry out the SolarWinds invasion were similar to those utilized by U.S. and British intelligence agencies, according to the news service.

Biden last week signed an executive order aimed at improving federal cybersecurity after the SolarWinds hack and other damaging cyberattacks targeted the U.S.

Earlier this month, Colonial Pipeline, one of the largest pipelines in the U.S., was forced to temporarily halt some of its operations following a cyberattack on its infrastructure.