SolarWinds
Cloud Migration
Post-Cyberattack Infrastructure Recovery
Was part of the team that lead the critical cloud migration initiative following the devastating SolarWinds soverign cyberattack, ensuring secure infrastructure transition from AWS to Azure while maintaining business continuity and strengthening security posture.
About SolarWinds
Understanding the company and the critical nature of the infrastructure that required immediate attention following the cyberattack.
Company Overview
SolarWinds is a major American company that develops software for businesses to help manage their networks, systems, and information technology infrastructure. The company provides monitoring and management tools used by hundreds of thousands of organizations worldwide, including government agencies and Fortune 500 companies.
Their Orion platform is particularly critical, serving as a centralized network monitoring solution that provides visibility into network performance, availability, and security across enterprise environments.
The SolarWinds Hack
Understanding the cyberattack that necessitated immediate, comprehensive infrastructure recovery measures.
The Attack
The SolarWinds hack (discovered in December 2020) was a massive cyberattack where state hackers compromised SolarWinds' Orion software updates, inserting malware that gave them access to the networks of thousands of organizations, including U.S. government agencies and major corporations.
It's considered one of the most significant supply chain cyberattacks in history, affecting critical infrastructure and requiring immediate, comprehensive response measures.
Organizations Affected
Including Fortune 500 companies
Federal Agencies
Government infrastructure compromised
Months Undetected
Advanced persistent threat
The Migration Project
A comprehensive cloud infrastructure migration designed to restore security, enhance resilience, and ensure business continuity in the aftermath of the cyberattack.
Security-First Approach
The migration prioritized security at every level, implementing zero-trust architecture, enhanced monitoring, and comprehensive access controls to prevent future breaches and ensure compliance with government security standards.
Zero Downtime Migration
Executed a seamless migration strategy with the team that maintained business operations throughout the transition, utilizing blue-green deployment techniques and careful orchestration to ensure continuous service availability.
My Role & Contributions
As a member of the migration team, I took on critical responsibilities that ensured the project's success and security compliance.
Key Responsibilities
Cloud Migration Setup
Conducted with the team tests to ensure the cloud migration process was safe and efficient to transfer many of Solarwinds' underlying cloud infrastructure from AWS to Azure using Terraform and Infrastructure as code best practices.
QA Division Oversight
Oversaw the QA division during ELZ Phases 1–2, focusing on deploying VMs, Blob storage, and related infrastructure using Terraform and Infrastructure-as-Code best practices.
Automation & Efficiency
Enhanced efficiency by automating large-scale resource deployments with Python scripts that parsed extensive ELZ documentation and executed deployments seamlessly for the team.
Communication Coordination
Served as the direct point of contact between the Rackspace cloud migration team and the SolarWinds technical team, coordinating communication to ensure alignment on project requirements, timelines, and technical specifications throughout the migration process.
Project Conclusion
The successful completion of the SolarWinds cloud migration project demonstrated the power of strategic planning, technical expertise, and collaborative execution in critical infrastructure recovery.
Mission Accomplished
Successfully migrated all critical infrastructure with zero downtime, ensuring business continuity throughout the transition period.
Enhanced Security
Implemented comprehensive security measures that exceeded compliance requirements and established a robust defense against future soverign threats.
Future-Ready
Established a better, scalable, automated infrastructure that positions the organization for future growth and technological advancement.
Project Impact
This project stands as a testament to the critical importance of cybersecurity resilience and the power of collaborative engineering in addressing national security challenges. The successful migration not only restored operational capability but also established new standards for secure cloud infrastructure in semi-government environments within the United States and globally.