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The China-linked company has looted remote mailboxes using newly discovered bugs in Microsoft’s email server software, the company and external researchers said Tuesday – an example of how commonly used programs can be used be to cast a wide network online.
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In a blog post, Microsoft said that the hacking campaign used four previously unmarked vulnerabilities in different versions of the software, and that it was the work of a group he called HAFNIUM, which he described as a state-sponsored entity based out of China. work.
In a separate blog post, cybersecurity firm Volexity said in January it saw hackers use one of the vulnerabilities to steal the full contents of a number of user mailboxes remotely. All they needed to know was the details of the Exchange server and the account they wanted to plunder emails, Volexity said.
The Chinese embassy in Washington did not immediately return messages for comment. Beijing regularly denies carrying out cyber espionage despite a barrage of allegations from the United States and others.
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Prior to the Microsoft announcement, the increasingly aggressive movements of the hackers began to attract attention from the entire cybersecurity community.
Mike McLellan, director of intelligence for Secureworks of Dell Technologies Inc, said before the Microsoft announcement that he noticed a sudden increase in activity affecting Exchange servers overnight on Sunday, with about 10 customers affected at his firm.
Microsoft’s almost ubiquitous range of products has come under scrutiny since the overhaul of SolarWinds, the Texas-based software industry that has served as a springboard for various government and private sector intrusions. In other cases, hackers took advantage of the way customers set up their Microsoft services to compromise their targets or dive further into the affected networks.
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Hackers who haunted SolarWinds also hacked Microsoft itself by gaining access to and downloading source code – including elements of Exchange, the company’s email and calendar product.
McLellan said the hacking activity he saw was for the time being focused on sowing malicious software and setting the scene for a potentially deeper burglary rather than immediately engaging in networks aggressively.
| Ticker | Safety | Last | Alter | Alter% |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MSFT | MICROSOFT CORP. | 233.87 | -3.07 | -1.30% |
“We have not seen any prosecution activity yet,” he said. “We’re going to find a lot of companies that are affected, but a smaller number of companies that are actually being exploited.”
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Microsoft said targets include infectious disease researchers, law firms, higher education institutions, defense contractors, policymakers and non-governmental groups.
(Reporting by Raphael Satter and Christopher Bing; Editing by Dan Grebler)