According to Microsoft Corp. emails connected to Western European government agencies have been compromised by a hacker gang based in China.
Microsoft stated in a blog post on Tuesday that the Storm-0558 gang specializes in crimes like data theft and espionage.
The gang had gone undetected for nearly a month until customers complained to Microsoft about unusual mail activity. The group had gotten access to email accounts affecting roughly 25 businesses, including government institutions, and to accounts of individuals associated to these organizations.
“We assess this adversary is focused on espionage, such as gaining access to email systems for intelligence collection,” Charlie Bell, executive vice president of security at Microsoft, stated in a separate Microsoft post.
The breach was caused by hackers creating fake authentication tokens, which are bits of data used to confirm a user’s identity and are necessary to access email accounts. Since then, Microsoft has addressed the incident and contacted any impacted customers.
Microsoft claimed that, among other organizations, it collaborates with the Department of Homeland Security and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency to thwart such assaults.
Additionally, it declared that it will keep an eye on Storm-0558’s operations.
The Storm-0558 attack is the most recent security lapse that has been linked to hackers in China.
An email security program with a well-known security flaw was used by suspected state-backed Chinese hackers to breach the networks of hundreds of public and private sector companies worldwide, according to Mandiant, a Google-owned cybersecurity company.
Microsoft claimed earlier this year that state-sponsored Chinese hackers have been attacking vital American infrastructure and may be setting the technical stage for the potential interruption of vital communications between the United States and Asia in the event of future crises.
China claims that the U.S. hacks into the systems of its colleges and businesses as part of its cyberespionage campaign against it.
