Chinese intelligence hacked U.S. government emails in significant breach

▤ Summary

The hackers accessed Microsoft-powered email accounts at the agencies as part of a continued effort by China-based actors to spy on and steal sensitive government and corporate data. Each time the technique was used, it increased the chances of the threat actor getting caught," said Google Clouds Mandiant senior vice president and chief technical officer Charles Carmakal. Officials immediately contacted Microsoft to find the source and vulnerability in their cloud service," National Security Council spokesperson Adam Hodge said in a statement to The Wall Street Journal. Top law firm Covington & Burling, for example, was compromised by Chinese hackers using an exploit of Microsoft server software in 2020. The latest compromise comes months after Microsoft and top government officials acknowledged another Chinese state-backed group was behind espionage efforts that targeted "critical" U.S. civilian and military infrastructure, including a naval base in Guam.

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