Russian hackers accessed Microsoft’s vital source code in massive cyber attack that targeted US gov
MICROSOFT on Thursday said as part of Russia’s massive breach – that included the US government – hackers viewed their source code. The company announced that the hackers saw more in their cyber attack than was previously known. Microsoft said in a blog post: Our investigation into our own environment has found no evidence of access […]
MICROSOFT on Thursday said as part of Russia’s massive breach – that included the US government – hackers viewed their source code.
The company announced that the hackers saw more in their cyber attack than was previously known.
Microsoft said in a blog post: Our investigation into our own environment has found no evidence of access to production services or customer data.”
“The investigation, which is ongoing, has also found no indications that our systems were used to attack others.
“We detected unusual activity with a small number of internal accounts and upon review, we discovered one account had been used to view source code in a number of source code repositories.
“The account did not have permissions to modify any code or engineering systems and our investigation further confirmed no changes were made. These accounts were investigated and remediated.”
It is believed hackers acting on behalf of the Russia foreign intelligence service SVR breached and stole data from the US government.
Agencies were affected within the Treasury Department and the US Department of Commerce, prompting an emergency National Security Meeting this month.
The Kremlin has always denied Moscow’s involvement in cyber attacks against the West. It has said that Russia had nothing to do with the latest assault.
The US government has said the hack is “significant” – with Republican Senator Mitt Romney comparing it to “Russian bombers have been repeatedly flying undetected over our entire country.”
Earlier this month, President Donald Trump called the magnitude of the cyber attack fake, saying it “isn’t that bad.”
“I have been fully briefed and everything is well under control,” Trump tweeted.
“Russia, Russia, Russia is the priority chant when anything happens because Lamestream is, for mostly financial reasons, petrified of discussing the possibility that it may be China (it may!).
“There could also have been a hit on our ridiculous voting machines during the election, which is now obvious that I won big, making it an even more corrupted embarrassment for the USA.”
The president’s fiery comments come after Secretary of State Mike Pompeo became the first Trump administration official to blame Russia for the US government data breach described as the “cyber Pearl Harbor.”
Pompeo confirmed reports that the Kremlin was behind the major hacking spree in the United States, which infiltrated federal departments and private sector businesses.
These spies hacked Microsoft and infiltrated a US nuclear weapons stockpile as part of a nine-month “virtual invasion” by Moscow, inserting code into network management software from SolarWinds Corp app.
During an an interview with The Mark Levin Show, Pompeo said: “This was a very significant effort, and I think it’s the case that now we can say pretty clearly that it was the Russians that engaged in this activity.
“There was a significant effort to use a piece of third-party software to essentially embed code inside of US government systems and it now appears systems of private companies and companies and governments across the world as well.”
Democratic Rep Jason Crow of Colorado likened the cyber assault to Pearl Harbor, the site of a US naval base where Japan launched a surprise attack on December 7, 1941, which brought the US into World War II.
Delaware Democrat Senator Chris Coons told MSNBC: “It’s pretty hard to distinguish this from an act of aggression that rises to the level of an attack that qualifies as war.”
“[It’s] as destructive and broad scale an engagement with our military systems, our intelligence systems as has happened in my lifetime.”
President-elect Joe Biden is said to be plotting a cyber attack on Russia in retaliation for the hacks which hit 200 US government agencies and firms.
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The Biden administration is considering financial penalties and revenge hacks on Russian infrastructure to punish Moscow over its alleged role in the hacking campaign, sources have told Reuters.
Ron Klain, the incoming White House chief of staff, said the president-elect’s response to the assault on US federal agencies and American companies would go beyond sanctions.
“It’s not just sanctions. It’s steps and things we could do to degrade the capacity of foreign actors to engage in this sort of attack,” Klain said.