On Tuesday, Microsoft went public with the attack and identified the culprits as a Chinese cyperespionage group called Hafnium. Once caught, a software patch was issued - however before that happened, the hackers switched tactics and began using automated software to identify vulnerable servers on the internet and target them, said Adair.
"The attackers cranked up a huge notch over this past weekend," he said, adding "They’re just hitting every Exchange server they can find on the internet."
Despite the likely 'high-value espionage targets,' the Journal says the hackers were unlikely to have much in the way of intelligence due to the nature of the victims. That said, several government officials have gone on record to warn about its potential severity - while the Cybersecurity Infrastructure Security Agency "Issued a rare emergency directive this past week requiring federal government agencies to immediately patch or disconnect products running Microsoft Exchange on-premises products." CISA also issued a Thursday update to its alert warning that the Chinese hackers were using automated tools to crawl the internet for vulnerable Exchange servers.
CISA held a call Friday with more than 4,000 critical infrastructure partners in the private sector and state and local governments encouraging them to patch their systems.
Also on Friday, White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters during a press briefing that the Microsoft vulnerabilities were of significant concern and “could have far-reaching impacts” and result in a "large number of victims.” -WSJ
On Friday, a Microsoft spokesman said they're working with security companies and government agencies to contain the incident, however they would not disclose the estimated scope of the attack.
Yup, MORE China Virus no matter what Biden and his crime syndicate calls it.
They found a Chink in our armor.
Sounds to me like the FedGov should have stuck with Hillary’s server. At least she could have deleted it all.
...happily sitting here as a Linux guy but... I can only be so smug. It is never a good day when criminal elements win. M$, get your house in order! We all lose when they win.
some sort of government requirement notwithstanding, you have to have an IT death wish to have any email server, exchange especially, responding behind your firewall.
it attacks all the wrong kinds of attention from all the wrong kinds of people.
And Office 365 is garbage. While its performance has improved a little over the past year, it is still ponderously slow compared to IMAP or anything else.
Anyone one with half a brain stopped using Microsoft email products back when windows 98 was a thing. They were always insecure.
Both the communist chinese and microsoft are spying on you.
Both.
According to SentinelLabs ThunderCats, from China hacked the FSB and other Russian government organizations, detailed in the May 2021 FSB NKTsKI and Rostelecom-Solar report.
https://labs.sentinelone.com/thundercats-hack-the-fsb-your-taxes-didnt-pay-for-this-op/