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The Legacy of the Biggest Supply Chain Hack | Gestalt IT Rundown: May 3, 2023

Thanks to Gina Rosenthal for sharing a wonderful article from Wired about the details behind the SolarWinds Orion supply chain hack that we covered back at the end of 2020. You may recall that SolarWinds was compromised by Russian hackers and their software was infected and used to breach the US government as well as Microsoft, Mandiant, and more. In this article we’re learning even more interesting information, such as the source of the attacks from the Russian SVR which is their version of the CIA, to the fact that the US DOJ detected signs of the attack just a couple of months after the infiltration and didn’t pick up on the possibility of it being a larger issue. The whole article is a fascinating read but what strikes me is that we’re now 2.5 years past this earth shattering situation and we still don’t know for certain if we could be impacted by it again. Chris, have we learned any lessons from this?


0:31 – Meteor Lake Ramping Up

During Intel’s Q1 call last week they gave everyone an update on the status of their latest client processor. Meteor Lake is the first disaggregated CPU that will be offered on the Intel 4 process node. Intel 4 is the basis for Intel offering chiplet technology that allows them to use different chips for I/O, graphics, and more. Meteor Lake is seen as the first big test of the new tech before it moves into server CPU production. This status update comes almost one year after we’ve last heard about the product line. Chris, will Intel manage to roll out Meteor Lake on time? And will their new process node succeed?

Read More: Intel: Meteor Lake & Intel 4 Process Now Ramping for Production


3:30 – WANDisco Sales Rep Costs Company Big Time

If you don’t think you can have an impact on your company then we need to tell you about WANDisco. The company announced back in March that they could not certifiy their 2022 sales numbers and that their booked revenue was significantly lower than reported. At the time we didn’t report on it because it wasn’t a huge news item. However, this week WANDisco has confirmed that a single sales rep created $15 million worth of sales that almost doubled the amount brought in by the rest of the sales team. This false reporting caused their stock price to soar and their CEO to believe they had cornered the market. Today that CEO and the CFO at the time have departed and their replacments are trying to sort through the mess. WANDisco stock trading has been halted until the situation can be resolved. Tom, one rep caused all this?

Read More: Single sales rep inflated WANdisco numbers


7:22 – Ubuntu Pro Now Available on AWS

Ubuntu fans can rejoice today because Canonical has announced a subscription-based Ubuntu Pro offering is now available on AWS. Ubuntu Pro provides critical enterprise support out of the box such as security maintenance and hardening scripts. The idea is that you can pull down the image from the AWS marketplace and launch instances to let you purchase Ubuntu Pro Compute Service Plans as needed. Given the focus on federal standards like FIPS, is this designed to help governements and other regulated industries jump in the cloud quickly with approved solutions? And how will Canonical make people prefer the paid version?

Read More: Ubuntu Pro Upgrade – Annual Subscription


11:22 – Apple and Nuvia Drop Lawsuit

Way back in 2019 we reported that Apple had sued the CEO of Nuvia, Gerard Williams, claiming he had breached his contract by founding the Arm-based CPU company. Nuvia was snapped up by Qualcomm last year but the lawsuit still lingered as Apple wanted Williams to admit to what he was accused of doing. At least until this week, as Apple has filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit. There is talk that part of this reluctance stems from the lawsuit that Arm filed against Qualcomm claiming that they have no rights to use the Nuvia technology and that all designs need to be destroyed as per the licensing breach. Tom, is Apple letting Williams off the hook? Or do they see Arm succeeding in squashing the Nuvia tech?

Read More: Apple gives up legal war on iPhone CPU wizard who co-founded Nuvia


15:56 – The Legacy of the Biggest Supply Chain Hack

Thanks to Gina Rosenthal for sharing a wonderful article from Wired about the details behind the SolarWinds Orion supply chain hack that we covered back at the end of 2020. You may recall that SolarWinds was compromised by Russian hackers and their software was infected and used to breach the US government as well as Microsoft, Mandiant, and more. In this article we’re learning even more interesting information, such as the source of the attacks from the Russian SVR which is their version of the CIA, to the fact that the US DOJ detected signs of the attack just a couple of months after the infiltration and didn’t pick up on the possibility of it being a larger issue. The whole article is a fascinating read but what strikes me is that we’re now 2.5 years past this earth shattering situation and we still don’t know for certain if we could be impacted by it again. Chris, have we learned any lessons from this?

Read More: The Untold Story of the Boldest Supply-Chain Hack Ever


26:04 – The Weeks Ahead

Mobility Field Day 9 – May 17-19, 2023

Cloud Field Day 17 May 31 – June 1, 2023

Cisco Live US June 6-7, 2023


The Gestalt IT Rundown is a live weekly look at the IT news of the week. It broadcasts live on Facebook every Wednesday at 12:30pm ET. To watch along, “Like” our Facebook page. Be sure to subscribe to Gestalt IT on YouTube for even more weekly video content.

About the author

Tom Hollingsworth

Tom Hollingsworth is a networking professional, blogger, and speaker on advanced technology topics. He is also an organizer for networking and wireless for Tech Field Day.  His blog can be found at https://networkingnerd.net/