Security News > 2021 > January > UK Cabinet Office spokesman tells House of Lords: We're not being complacent about impact of SolarWinds hack
The British government has denied being "Complacent" over the Solarwinds hack as a fed-up peer of the realm urged a minister to "Answer the question".
Lord True, the government's Cabinet Office spokesman in the House of Lords, described the attack as "a complex and global cyber incident" and said UK.gov was "Working with international partners to fully understand its scale and any UK impact."
The Conservative minister had been answering questions from the House of Lords over the SolarWinds hack, the largest supply chain security breach in recent years.
Lord Harris of Haringey remonstrated the government for its "Complacence" yesterday afternoon, noting "a large number of systems in the national infrastructure use SolarWinds software and have been compromised" and that "The House has not been told how many." He went on to ask: "Does not the reliance on these sorts of commercial software solutions create a single point of failure for our security and economy as multiple systems, otherwise unrelated, can be penetrated simultaneously, potentially leading to a catastrophic collapse?".
Lord True told peers: "I'll say it again, the government's response is not complacent and the NCSC is working to mitigate any potential risk, actionable guidance has been published to their website. And we urge organisations take immediate steps to protect their networks."
Aside from a telephone directory-style list of American government agencies, also included Britain's Cabinet Office, the NHS, the Ministry of Defence' and other critical government institutions and ministries.