A group of Chinese hackers have gained access to the email accounts of about 25 organizations, including US government agencies, Microsoft said.
Although Microsoft has stated that the email accounts of 25 major organizations were hacked, it has refused to provide information about which of those organizations.
However, the news agency stated that the US Department of Commerce confirmed to the BBC that it was informed by Microsoft about a hacker attack.
According to the report, Gina Raimondo, the United Nations Secretary of Commerce, is also among those affected by the hacker attack.
“Microsoft notified the department of a compromise with Microsoft’s Office 365 system, and the department took immediate action to respond,” a US Commerce Department spokesman told the BBC.
Meanwhile, American media reported that the US State Department has also been the target of hackers. However, the United States State Department has refrained from commenting to the media in this regard, according to the country’s media.
The Chinese embassy in London has told Reuters news agency that the allegations are “false” and that the US government is “the world’s largest hacker empire and global cyber thief”.
Microsoft said they suspected China-based hacker group ‘Storm-0558’ was involved. The group allegedly accessed email accounts by forging the digital authentication tokens required to log into Microsoft systems. These tokens are generally used to verify a person’s identity.
“These hackers primarily target government agencies in Western Europe and focus on espionage, data theft and credential access,” Microsoft said.
Microsoft said its investigation showed that the group began trying to break into its systems in mid-May, and that it has since contained the attack and contacted affected customers.
In May, Microsoft and Western intelligence agencies said Chinese hackers had used new software to attack critical infrastructure at American military bases in Guam.
