Hewlett Packard Enterprise is in the midst of a controversial discovery. Recently uncovered Russian reports indicate that the tech company was in talks with a Russian party to purchase a cybersecurity product. However, this particular asset called ArcSight was an integral part in the digital defense system that the Navy, Air Force, and Army use.
HPE’s presentation was a sales pitch to a company working for Russia’s Federal Service for Technical and Export Control. This relation might have offered Russian officers insights into the weaknesses of Pentagon’s cyberdefense layers.
HPE Pitched One of Its Security Software to Russian Party with the Aim to Gain Access to a New Market
The Russian company in question is Echelon. The entity gained HPE’s acceptance to review a digital security product. The U.S.-based company was hoping to earn enough credentials to enter the Russian market.
HPE is the creator of ArcSight. The software signals a possible cyber-attack by keeping track of suspicious activity. One of the signs is an unusually high number of failed attempts to log in the system.
The efficiency of the asset impressed the private sector and the military in America. Therefore, major players in these areas adopted the product and implemented it within their cybersecurity systems.
Once HPE turned to Echelon to review its product, the Russian entity started looking for vulnerabilities. However, the company needed HPE’s permission to report their findings to Russia’s Federal Service for Technical and Export Control.
U.S. Government Investigates Whether Russian Access to Pentagon’s Digital Defense System Helped Them Influence 2016 Presidential Election
This new disclosure appeared during lawmakers and government’s investigation of mischievous Russian activity in the digital world. Authorities are still reviewing the role Russia played in influencing the 2016 U.S. presidential election. There were numerous irregularities with this procedure, including the Hillary Clinton server case.
HPE’s sales pitch might belong to a common type of strategies that help companies penetrate a new national market and compete with local rivals. However, HPE’s permission to Russian entity to test a digital defense system that Pentagon uses as protection might have led to dire consequences. Lawmakers believe that Russian agents took advantage of ArcSight’s vulnerabilities to attack the US military digital networks.
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