Microsoft Corp. said today that Hackers backed by the Chinese government exploited a vulnerability in Microsoft’s e-mail server software to break into U.S. organizations and steal secrets.
The Associated Press reported that Microsoft said the hacker group, operating under the auspices of the Chinese government, had “high-end skills and experience” in launching attacks from China to try to steal information from targeted U.S. networks, including U.S. universities, defense contractors, law firms, infectious disease research facilities and others.
Microsoft said the company has released a security update to fix vulnerabilities in its Exchange Server software, which is used to provide email and calendar services, mostly for large organizations with their own email servers. The hack did not affect individual email accounts or Microsoft cloud-related services.
Microsoft called the hacker group Hafnium and said Hafnium was able to trick Exchange Server to gain access. The hackers then disguised themselves as people who should have access, and then built a set of methods that could be remotely controlled to steal information from the organization’s network.
Microsoft said the hacker group was based in China, but operated with the help of a virtual private server rented in the United States to avoid detection.
Microsoft did not specify which units were attacked, nor did it say how many organizations were compromised.
Recent Comments