White House blames Russian spy agency for SolarWinds hack

(Reuters) — The White House said in a statement Thursday that Russia’s foreign intelligence service, known as the SVR, was responsible for the SolarWinds Inc. hack, which led to the compromise of nine federal agencies and hundreds of private sector companies.

Senior U.S. government officials had already said the Russian government was responsible for the sprawling cyberattack, but Thursday's announcement offers the first formal statement pinning the operation on a specific agency.

The White House statement was paired with a series of sanctions against five Russian cybersecurity firms, which the Treasury Department said had been involved in supporting Russian cyber operations.