Russian group hacks Microsoft

Highlights: Russian group hacks Microsoft. According to the company, hackers with connections to the Russian government were able to read emails from high-ranking employees. Microsoft said it was investigating the incident and had interrupted the malicious activity by blocking the threat actor's access to its systems. "This attack underscores the ongoing risk posed to all organizations by well-resourced nation-state threat actors like Midnight Blizzard," the company said. The hacker group is best known for its intrusion into the American Democratic National Committee in 2016.

The US software company Microsoft has fallen victim to a cyber attack. According to the company, hackers with connections to the Russian government were able to read emails from high-ranking employees, among other things.

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Microsoft headquarters in Redmond: According to the company, the hacker attack was not due to vulnerabilities in its products or services

Photo: Matt Mills McKnight / REUTERS

Microsoft says it was hacked by a Russian state-sponsored group.

"So far there is no evidence that the threat actor had access to customer environments, production systems, source code or AI systems," the company announced on Friday (local time).

Microsoft's threat research team routinely investigates nation-state hackers such as Russia's Midnight Blizzard, which has been linked to the attack.

On January 12th, the group broke into the company's systems.

She was able to access a "very small percentage" of Microsoft employees' email accounts, including members of the executive team and employees from cybersecurity, legal and other functions, the company said.

The group did not provide any information about who among the group's management was affected.

“This attack underlines the ongoing risk”

Microsoft said it was investigating the incident and had interrupted the malicious activity by blocking the threat actor's access to its systems.

"This attack underscores the ongoing risk posed to all organizations by well-resourced nation-state threat actors like Midnight Blizzard," the company said.

The attack was not due to a vulnerability in its products or services.

Midnight Blizzard is also known as APT29 or Cozy Bear by cybersecurity researchers and, according to US authorities, is linked to the Russian spy service SVR.

The hacker group is best known for its intrusion into the American Democratic National Committee in 2016.

Microsoft software is used in many companies and government agencies around the world.

Depending on the relevance of the information captured, the hack could have far-reaching consequences.

A few years ago, maintenance software from Solarwinds was infected in one of the most serious cyber attacks by suspected Russian hackers.

The attackers then used them to gain access to the systems of dozens of companies and authorities.

The Russian Embassy in Washington and the State Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

hen/Reuters/dpa

Russian group hacks Microsoft

“This attack underlines the ongoing risk”

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