Cyberattaque de Microsoft par des pirates russes liés à l’État – Détails de l’attaque et réactions de l’entreprise

Hackers linked to Russian intelligence have hacked emails from top Microsoft executives, according to a court document filed by the American IT giant.

According to Microsoft, the author of the cyber attack is “Midnight Blizzard”. This group acts in connection with Russia’s foreign intelligence services, according to Washington and London. “This actor is known to primarily target states, diplomatic entities, non-governmental organizations, and IT service providers in the United States and Europe,” Microsoft said in a blog post last August about a previous cyber attack.

“They seek to gather information by spying on foreign interests in the long term.” The activities of “Midnight Blizzard”, also known as “Nobelium”, have been traced back to the beginning of 2018, according to Microsoft.

The company’s security team detected the last attack on January 12, triggering defenses that blocked further access by the hackers. The attack began last November, when the hackers tried a password on a series of accounts and thus managed to access an old test account, Microsoft explained in the court document.

The hackers then used this “foothold” to access certain Microsoft employee accounts, including those of executives and members of the security team, and retrieved emails and attachments. “The investigation indicates that the hackers first targeted email accounts to find information related to Midnight Blizzard itself,” Microsoft said.

According to the company, there is no evidence that the hackers accessed customer accounts, production systems, source code, or AI software at Microsoft. “Given the reality of malicious actors who have resources and are funded by states, we are seeking a new balance between security and business risks,” Microsoft emphasized.

“We will immediately act to apply our current security standards to legacy Microsoft systems and internal business processes, even if these changes may disrupt existing business processes”.