In a massive cyberespionage campaign, Chinese state-linked hackers gained access to email accounts at roughly 25 companies, including government institutions, according to Microsoft’s statement on Wednesday.
White House national security advisor Jake Sullivan claimed in an interview with ABC that the country had “fairly rapidly” discovered breach of federal government accounts and had been able to stop additional intrusions.
Microsoft (MSFT.O) said in a statement on its website that the hacking group, Storm-0558, used fake digital authentication tokens to access webmail accounts operating on the company’s Outlook service. The action started in May.
“As with any observed nation-state actor activity, Microsoft has contacted all targeted or compromised organisations directly via their tenant admins and provided them with important information to help them investigate and respond,” the statement added.
Microsoft noted that the hacker organisation mainly targeted organisations in Western Europe but did not specify which governments or organisations have been targeted.
An email seeking comment was not promptly answered by the Chinese embassy in London. Involvement in hacking are often denied by Beijing.
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