Business & Economy

US, EU and Nato blame China for Microsoft hack

Washington, Jul 19 (EFE).- The United States, the European Union and Nato on Monday accused China of being linked a global hack on Microsoft Exchange email servers in March this year.

President Joe Biden’s administration said in a White House statement that the US and its allies were further exposing China’s “pattern of malicious cyber activity and taking further action to counter it.”

The US said it could state with a “high degree of confidence” that the cyber attack that compromised thousands of computers was conducted by hackers affiliated with China’s security ministry (MSS).

Microsoft had already blamed Beijing-backed hackers for the attack but the statement on Monday marks the first occasion that the US, the EU, Nato and Western partners including the United Kingdom, Japan, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, have directly implicated the Asian country in this attack.

The US Department of Justice is pursuing charges against four “MSS hackers” concerning the “multiyear campaign targeting foreign governments and entities in key sectors, including maritime, aviation, defense, education, and healthcare in at least a dozen countries.”

“DOJ documents outline how MSS hackers pursued the theft of Ebola virus vaccine research and demonstrate that the PRC’s theft of intellectual property, trade secrets, and confidential business information extends to critical public health information.”

According to The Wall Street Journal, the cyber attack in March 2021 could have affected up to 250,000 servers. Among the entities affected by the hack was the European Banking Authority and the Norwegian Parliament. EFE

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