Suspected Russian hackers got former Homeland Secretary Wolf's emails, in Solar Winds cyber attack

Suspected Russian hackers gained access to the emails of former Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf and others during the massive cyber attack last year on the federal government, according to a news report Monday. 

Intelligence officials says the attack was through SolarWinds, and United States-based IT and software company that sells network management software to companies and governments to use to control and monitor their computer networks, according to the Associated Press.

The revelation about Wolf's emails are the result of dozens of interviews with current and former U.S. officials and show the hacks were more extensive than previously thought, with the hackers even having the private schedules and emails of Wolf and the other top officials.

"The SolarWinds hack was a victory for our foreign adversaries, and a failure for DHS," said Ohio Sen. Rob Portman, top Republican on the Senate’s Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. "We are talking about DHS’s crown jewels."

The cyberattack started in early March of 2020 and hit the network security systems of the Treasury and Commerce departments and an untold list of other departments and countries, which have yet to be disclosed by the U.S. government, according to the wire service.

Malicious code was snuck into the software provided by SolarWinds, which gave access to the hackers to sensitive information. 

The attack was discovered in December of 2020, months after the attack started.

Russia has denied any involvement in the hacking.