by Eesha Catherine Vakkan
Early January saw a major cybersecurity hack that has been interpreted as an attack by Chinese spies on American policy think tanks. Much more recently, another series of infiltrations has cropped up, with other hackers tailgating on the initial breach.
It is suspected that at least five hacking groups have been taking advantage of Microsoft email servers. The attacks have been estimated to affect thousands of victims from around the globe, and have been called “widespread domestic and international exploitation” by the U.S government. Presently, the figures of affected people stand at 250,000
Intellectual Property Theft Concerns
The major concerns regarding the hack include intellectual property theft especially from hospitals and financial institutions. Jen Psaki, White House press secretary, voiced her concern for network owners who may have already been attacked. She stated, “Network owners also need to consider whether they have already been compromised and should immediately take appropriate steps”.
Microsoft’s Response
Microsoft has informed the public that they, along with CISA (Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency), are working towards providing their customers with assistance to retain safety. In response to the attacks, Microsoft has launched several security updates to combat the compromised software and has urged their customers to install them.
Many, including Microsoft, believe that the Chinese hacking group Hafnium is responsible, but conclusive evidence is yet to be attained. The group allegedly took advantage of four vulnerabilities in the Microsoft server.
China has denied all allegations and called them ‘baseless speculation and accusations’.
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