Cybercrime: Microsoft was the victim of Russian hackers

Unfortunately, cybercrime is no longer just a regular occurrence for state authorities. Medium-sized to large companies are also exposed to attacks by criminal hackers. It has now come to light that tech company Microsoft has also been the victim of several attacks. The perfidious thing about it is that they are said to have lasted for months and are still taking place today.

Cybercrime under Russian control

It is nothing new for Russia to attack important state institutions as well as companies in the West with the help of hacker attacks organized by the Kremlin as part of its hybrid warfare. However, with the start of the war in Ukraine in February 2022, the number of attacks increased noticeably once again.

One of the victims is Microsoft, one of the largest tech companies in the USA. As has now become public, the company is currently being attacked by a state-sponsored group called “Midnight Blizzard”. The attack began back in November 2023, as Microsoft made public in its own blog on the subject.

Microsoft speaks of significant increase in February

Although the tech company is currently doing everything it can to stop the attackers, the plan is unfortunately not working. Quite the opposite. Attacks are said to have increased tenfold in February this year. Among other things, the attackers are probably focusing on access data. The hackers, who are presumably state-sponsored, use so-called password sprays to obtain these.

The group has already had one major success. With the right company-internal access data, they have probably already been able to get hold of an important source code. So far, however, Microsoft has remained tight-lipped as to whether this is an official product or merely an internal company program. However, customers should not be affected so far.

Russian hackers on the hunt for vulnerabilities

It must be a real nightmare for those responsible at Microsoft what Midnight Blizzard is currently doing. After all, even five months after the attack began, the company’s security department has been unable to take action against it. The hacker group is meticulously searching for vulnerabilities in order to steal even more source code. The data of the tech company’s numerous customers is certainly also in focus.

One can only hope that Microsoft has now meticulously closed every little gateway. Microsoft intends to inform the public immediately about the latest developments. The duration of the attack alone makes it clear how great the dangers are when they are directed by state actors. We can only hope that Microsoft will soon be able to drive the cyber criminals out of its own systems.