In a Monday interview with CNBC's Jim Cramer, CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz discussed the high-profile security breach of Microsoft by a Russian intelligence group, saying those adversaries took a determined “low and slow” approach to hacking that was particularly difficult to defeat.
Microsoft announced Friday that the group known as Nobelium carried out the attack and was able to access the email accounts of some of the company's top executives. Nobelium is considered part of the Russian foreign intelligence service SVR and is also known under the names Midnight Blizzard and Cozy Bear.
“This is a very determined opponent, but we have seen Cozy Bear in many different reports and what makes them so difficult is the low and slow way they operate,” Kurtz said. “If you look at some of the campaigns that have taken place over the years, this has happened over many years, right, that's how patient they are.”
Nobelium has attempted to penetrate the systems of US allies and the Department of Defense. The group was also responsible for the attack on state-owned provider SolarWinds, one of the largest cyberattacks in US history. Microsoft's technology was also breached by the group in connection with the SolarWinds attack.
Microsoft did not immediately respond to a request for comment
Kurtz described other foreign adversaries – such as hackers from China or even other Russians – as “smash and grabs” and said Nobelium's tactics were more drawn out, patient and harder to detect. He said CrowdStrike uses its algorithms to aggregate these “low signals” and identify such adversaries. Kurtz added that CrowdStrike has been able to stop the group in the past and said some of Microsoft's customers sought additional support from his company.
“We help all types of customers, and I think what I want to come back to is security is a difficult problem, one company isn't going to solve everything,” he said. “We're solving a big problem for our customers and helping them protect against these Microsoft-like breaches and vulnerabilities, and that's obviously been a winning formula.”