The Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday that up to a quarter of a million users may have been victims of the recent email attack on Exchange Microsoft Corp. The company suspects this is the work of Chinese hackers.
Through Microsoft, the attack affected tens of thousands of companies, government offices, and schools in the United States. While many of them did not provide the hackers with intelligence, this may have happened in some cases, the New York Daily notes.
According to US media reports, hackers are using flaws in the Microsoft Exchange program to break into email accounts, read messages without permission, and install unauthorized software.
So-called Zero-Day exploits are malware that attacks software vulnerabilities even before they’re detected and removed. They are called Zero Day because there isn’t enough time to find them and protect the system. According to American media, carrying out an attack in this way suggests a high degree of sophistication by hackers.
Stephen Adair, founder of Volexity Inc. A company that Microsoft assigned a problem report to.
Last Tuesday, Microsoft announced the attack and identified the culprits as a Chinese cyber espionage group, or so-called hafnium. The American company provided users with a patch program to eliminate the problem.
The accident sparked widespread concern in the administration of US President Joe Biden, according to the New York City Business Daily. Last week, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency (CISA) issued an emergency directive requiring federal government agencies to repair or disconnect products from Microsoft Exchange immediately.
The Wall Street Journal said: “CISA held a phone call Friday with more than 4,000 critical infrastructure partners in the private sector, as well as state and local governments, and urged them to reform their systems.”
He also cites an excerpt from a statement by White House Press Secretary Jane Psaki, who noted that Microsoft’s vulnerabilities are of grave concern, “could have far-reaching consequences” and include “large numbers of casualties.”
Andrzej Dobrowolsky from New York
