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Redmond (dpa) - According to experts, the security gaps in Microsoft's Exchange communication system are increasingly being used by hackers to blackmail victims with the encryption of valuable data.
In addition, it has been observed that the infected servers are also being used to mine crypto currencies, said security expert Rüdiger Trost from the Finnish software company F-Secure of the German press agency.
"Since blackmail software and cryptominer are increasingly a danger, companies must act now," said Trost.
"You not only risk that information will be stolen from your mail server, but also that it will be encrypted, which will cause additional costs later."
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In the past few weeks, Microsoft has discovered several malicious programs that exploited recently disclosed security holes in its Exchange e-mail system.
The group published security updates with which the gaps should be closed.
However, the updates must be installed by the customer themselves.
The organizations affected by the hacker attacks also include eight federal authorities, including the Paul Ehrlich Institute in Langen, the German Federal Institute for Vaccines and Biomedical Medicines.
Trost pointed out that documents about the corona vaccine from Biontech and Pfizer were stolen in a cyber attack on the European Medicines Agency (EMA) in December.
«The current attack on the Paul Ehrlich Institute is therefore not surprising.
Vaccine dates are simply a very attractive target for state intelligence agencies during a pandemic. "
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210316-99-845595 / 2
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