"Microsoft's cybercrime division has undermined the activities of a China-based hacker group we call Nickel," the company said in a statement.
It is noted that Microsoft has filed a petition with the federal court for the Eastern District of Virginia in the United States with a request to transfer control over the cybercriminals' sites into the hands of the company.
By a court decision, the traffic of malicious sites was redirected to secure Microsoft servers.
According to the corporation, Nickel's cyberattacks were mainly intended to collect intelligence from government agencies, think tanks and human rights organizations.
On November 3, the director of cybersecurity in the US administration, Chris Inglis, at a hearing in the United States House of Representatives, said that hackers began to attack less often from Russian territory.