Chinese hackers breached State, Commerce Depts, Microsoft and US say
WASHINGTON/LONDON听–听颁丑颈苍别蝉别听state-linked听丑补肠办别谤蝉听since May have secretly accessed email accounts at around 25 organizations, including at least two US government agencies, Microsoft听补苍诲听US officials said on Wednesday.
The United听厂迟补迟别s detected a breach of federal government accounts “fairly rapidly”听补苍诲听managed to prevent further breaches, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said in an interview with ABC’s “Good Morning America” program.
The US听厂迟补迟别聽and听颁辞尘尘别谤肠别听Departments said in听蝉迟补迟别ments that they were among the affected agencies.
The email accounts of Secretary of听颁辞尘尘别谤肠别听Gina Raimondo听补苍诲听Department of听厂迟补迟别聽officials were also hacked, The Washington Post reported, citing US officials familiar with the matter.
Raimondo is the only known Cabinet-level official to have their account听产谤别补肠丑别诲听in the incident.
A聽senior U.S. government official told reporters it would be unfair to compare it to the SolarWinds compromise, a sweeping set of digital break-ins that were disclosed in late 2020听补苍诲听blamed on Russian cyberspies.
“This intrusion should not be compared to SolarWinds,” the official said, calling the recently discovered campaign “much narrower.”
The US official said he could not comment on听惭颈肠谤辞蝉辞蹿迟‘s decision to attribute the hack to China.
惭颈肠谤辞蝉辞蹿迟听said in a听蝉迟补迟别ment that the hacking group – which it dubbed Storm-0558 – forged digital authentication tokens to access webmail accounts running on the firm’s Outlook service. The activity began in May,听惭颈肠谤辞蝉辞蹿迟聽said.
“As with any observed nation-蝉迟补迟别听actor activity,听惭颈肠谤辞蝉辞蹿迟聽has contacted all targeted or compromised organizations directly via their tenant admins听补苍诲听provided them with important information to help them investigate听补苍诲听respond,” the company added.
惭颈肠谤辞蝉辞蹿迟听did not听蝉补测听which organizations or governments had been affected, but added that the hacking group involved primarily targets entities in Western Europe.
China’s embassy in London called the accusation “disinformation”听补苍诲听called the US government “the world’s biggest hacking empire听补苍诲听global cyber thief.” China routinely denies involvement in hacking operations regardless of the available evidence or context.
White House National Security Council spokesman Adam Hodge said an intrusion in听惭颈肠谤辞蝉辞蹿迟‘s cloud security “affected unclassified systems,” without elaborating.
“Officials immediately contacted听惭颈肠谤辞蝉辞蹿迟聽to find the source听补苍诲听vulnerability in their cloud service,” Hodge added.
The听厂迟补迟别聽Department “detected anomalo耻蝉听activity”听补苍诲听“took immediate steps to secure our systems,” a department spokesperson said in a听蝉迟补迟别ment. The听颁辞尘尘别谤肠别听Department said it took “immediate action” after听惭颈肠谤辞蝉辞蹿迟聽notified it of a compromise.
Private sector cybersecurity experts have said newly discovered hacking activity shows how聽颁丑颈苍别蝉别听groups are improving their cyber capabilities.
“颁丑颈苍别蝉别听cyber espionage has come a long way from the smash-and-grab tactics many of聽耻蝉听are familiar with,” said John Hultquist, chief analyst for US cybersecurity firm Mandiant. – Reuters
