US says Russian hackers stole federal government emails in Microsoft cyberattack

The US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has confirmed that Russian government-backed hackers have stolen emails from several US federal agencies following an ongoing cyberattack against Microsoft.

In a statement released Thursday, the U.S. cybersecurity agency said the cyberattack, initially disclosed by Microsoft in January, allowed hackers to steal federal government emails “through a successful compromise of corporate email accounts of Microsoft”.

The hackers, which Microsoft calls “Midnight Blizzard,” also known as APT29, are widely believed to be working for Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service, or SVR.

“Midnight Blizzard's successful compromise of Microsoft corporate email accounts and exfiltration of correspondence between agencies and Microsoft poses a serious and unacceptable risk to agencies,” CISA said.

The federal cybersecurity agency said it issued a new emergency directive on April 2 ordering civilian government agencies to take steps to secure their email accounts, based on new information that Russian hackers were stepping up their intrusions . CISA made details of the emergency directive public Thursday after giving affected federal agencies a week to reset passwords and secure affected systems.

CISA did not name the affected federal agencies that had emails stolen, and a CISA spokesperson did not immediately comment when contacted by TechCrunch.

News of the emergency directive was first reported by Cyberscoop last week.

The emergency directive comes as Microsoft faces increasing scrutiny of its security practices after a wave of intrusions by hackers from adversary countries. The US government relies heavily on the software giant to host government email accounts.

Microsoft went public in January after identifying that the Russian hacking group had broken into some corporate email systems, including the email accounts of “the leadership team and employees across our cybersecurity functions , legal and others. Microsoft said the Russian hackers were seeking information about what Microsoft and its security teams knew about the hackers themselves. Later, the tech giant said the hackers had also targeted other organizations outside of Microsoft.

It is now known that some of the organizations involved included US government agencies.

In March, Microsoft said it was continuing its efforts to expel Russian hackers from its systems, in what the company described as an “ongoing attack.” In a blog post, the company said the hackers were attempting to use “secrets” they initially stole in order to access other internal Microsoft systems and exfiltrate more data, such as source code.

Microsoft did not immediately comment when asked by TechCrunch on Thursday what progress the company has made in remediating the attack since March.

Earlier this month, the US Cyber ​​Safety Review Board (CSRB) concluded its investigation into a 2023 US government email breach attributed to Chinese government-backed hackers. The CSRB, an independent body that includes government officials and private sector cybersecurity experts, blamed a “cascade of security breaches at Microsoft.” These allowed Chinese-backed hackers to steal a sensitive email key that allowed broad access to consumer and government emails.

In February, the US Department of Defense notified 20,000 people that their personal information had been exposed on the internet after a cloud email server hosted by Microsoft was left without a password for several weeks in 2023.

Sources 1/ https://Google.com/ 2/ https://techcrunch.com/2024/04/11/us-cisa-russia-apt-29-government-email-theft-microsoft/ The mention sources can contact us to remove/changing this article

What Are The Main Benefits Of Comparing Car Insurance Quotes Online

LOS ANGELES, CA / ACCESSWIRE / June 24, 2020, / Compare-autoinsurance.Org has launched a new blog post that presents the main benefits of comparing multiple car insurance quotes. For more info and free online quotes, please visit https://compare-autoinsurance.Org/the-advantages-of-comparing-prices-with-car-insurance-quotes-online/ The modern society has numerous technological advantages. One important advantage is the speed at which information is sent and received. With the help of the internet, the shopping habits of many persons have drastically changed. The car insurance industry hasn't remained untouched by these changes. On the internet, drivers can compare insurance prices and find out which sellers have the best offers. View photos The advantages of comparing online car insurance quotes are the following: Online quotes can be obtained from anywhere and at any time. Unlike physical insurance agencies, websites don't have a specific schedule and they are available at any time. Drivers that have busy working schedules, can compare quotes from anywhere and at any time, even at midnight. Multiple choices. Almost all insurance providers, no matter if they are well-known brands or just local insurers, have an online presence. Online quotes will allow policyholders the chance to discover multiple insurance companies and check their prices. Drivers are no longer required to get quotes from just a few known insurance companies. Also, local and regional insurers can provide lower insurance rates for the same services. Accurate insurance estimates. Online quotes can only be accurate if the customers provide accurate and real info about their car models and driving history. Lying about past driving incidents can make the price estimates to be lower, but when dealing with an insurance company lying to them is useless. Usually, insurance companies will do research about a potential customer before granting him coverage. Online quotes can be sorted easily. Although drivers are recommended to not choose a policy just based on its price, drivers can easily sort quotes by insurance price. Using brokerage websites will allow drivers to get quotes from multiple insurers, thus making the comparison faster and easier. For additional info, money-saving tips, and free car insurance quotes, visit https://compare-autoinsurance.Org/ Compare-autoinsurance.Org is an online provider of life, home, health, and auto insurance quotes. This website is unique because it does not simply stick to one kind of insurance provider, but brings the clients the best deals from many different online insurance carriers. In this way, clients have access to offers from multiple carriers all in one place: this website. On this site, customers have access to quotes for insurance plans from various agencies, such as local or nationwide agencies, brand names insurance companies, etc. "Online quotes can easily help drivers obtain better car insurance deals. All they have to do is to complete an online form with accurate and real info, then compare prices", said Russell Rabichev, Marketing Director of Internet Marketing Company. CONTACT: Company Name: Internet Marketing CompanyPerson for contact Name: Gurgu CPhone Number: (818) 359-3898Email: [email protected]: https://compare-autoinsurance.Org/ SOURCE: Compare-autoinsurance.Org View source version on accesswire.Com:https://www.Accesswire.Com/595055/What-Are-The-Main-Benefits-Of-Comparing-Car-Insurance-Quotes-Online View photos