Microsoft Continues To Combat Russian State Hackers

Microsoft disclosed that it is still grappling with elite Russian government hackers who infiltrated the email accounts of senior company executives in November.

Microsoft confirmed that the hackers pilfered "secrets" from email communications between the company and unspecified customers.

These hackers, identified as members of Russia's SVR foreign intelligence service, have been attempting to breach customer networks using stolen access data, as reported by Frank Bajak for the Associated Press (AP).

The SVR hackers utilized data obtained from the intrusion, disclosed by Microsoft in mid-January, to compromise certain source-code repositories and internal systems, the tech giant revealed in a blog post and a regulatory filing.

Although Microsoft did not specify which source code was accessed or the extent of the hackers' capabilities to compromise customer and Microsoft systems, it confirmed that the hackers pilfered "secrets" from email communications between the company and unspecified customers.

These cryptographic secrets include passwords, certificates, and authentication keys. Microsoft is now actively reaching out to affected customers to assist in implementing mitigating measures.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HP Enterprise) also disclosed on January 24 that it fell victim to SVR hacking, having been informed of the breach two weeks earlier, around the same time Microsoft discovered its own intrusion.

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