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A sophisticated attack on Microsoft Corp’s widely used commercial email software. has turned into a global cybersecurity crisis, as hackers rush to infect as many victims as possible before businesses can secure their IT systems.
The attack, which Microsoft says began with a Chinese government-backed hacking group, has so far injured 60,000 known victims worldwide, according to a former senior US official familiar with the investigation.
The victims include banks and electricity providers, as well as homes for the aged and an ice cream company, according to Huntress, who monitors customer safety, in a blog post Friday, according to Bloomberg, and seen by Al Arabiya.net.
The rapidly escalating attack has alarmed US national security officials, in part because the hackers managed to infect scores of victims so quickly. In the latter stages of the attack, researchers say, hackers appear to have completed the operation, amassing tens of thousands of new victims around the world within days.
“We are committed to a full government response to assess and address the impact,” a White House official wrote in an email on Saturday. “This is an active threat that is still evolving and we urge network operators to take it very seriously.”
White House Alerts
According to Folkesty Chairman Stephen Adair, the Chinese hacking group, which Microsoft calls Hafnium, appear to have infiltrated private and government computer networks through the company’s popular Exchange messaging program for several months, initially targeting only one small number of victims. The company that helped Microsoft identify vulnerabilities used by hackers and for which the software giant released a patch on Tuesday.
“If you are using an Exchange server, you are probably a victim,” Adair said.
Huntress researchers looked at nearly 3,000 vulnerable servers on their partner networks and found around 350 infections – just over 10%.
Chinese response
For his part, a spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday that the country “firmly opposes and combats cyber attacks and cyber-theft in all its forms” and said that blaming a particular country is a “very sensitive political issue”.
In turn, the White House highlighted the periodic review of regulations.
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