MS "US SolarWinds Hacking Group Launches Additional Attacks in 24 Countries This Week"

SolarWinds Incident Last December Targeted Over 18,000 US Government Agencies and Companies
MS "Hacker Group Launches Phishing Attacks This Week on Email Accounts of Over 150 Organizations"

[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Suhwan] It has been claimed that the hacker group responsible for the large-scale hacking attacks on U.S. government agencies and companies last year through SolarWinds' network software is conducting additional attacks targeting at least 24 countries, including the United States.

Microsoft (MS) announced this on the 27th (local time) through its official blog.

MS stated, "The hacker group known as 'Nobelium' carried out phishing attacks this week targeting over 3,000 email accounts belonging to about 150 organizations and institutions obtained through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) email accounts."

MS added that Nobelium is distributing malware by mass-sending phishing emails manipulated to appear as if they contain undisclosed information related to last year's presidential election.

The hacking, first identified in December last year, involved hacking SolarWinds' network software to create a backdoor for covert access. It is known that approximately 18,000 corporations and organizations, including numerous government departments and companies such as the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Department of State, Department of the Treasury, MS, and Intel, which use SolarWinds' services, were attacked.

The U.S. government has pointed to Russia as behind this hacking, but Russia denies responsibility.

MS stated that this attack also appears to be the work of Russian hackers targeting government agencies handling foreign policy as part of intelligence-gathering activities. However, MS did not comment on the actual extent of damage caused by the hacking.

Cybersecurity firm Volexity assessed that, considering the relatively low detection rate of phishing emails, the hackers may have succeeded to some extent in achieving their goals.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.