Breaking news came in on Wednesday evening, September 27, that over 60,000 emails have been stolen from the US State Department in a Microsoft hack. According to a Senate staffer, Chinese hackers were able to break into Microsoft’s email platform and steal tens of thousands of emails from the U.S. State Department accounts.
In light of this breach, it is more important than ever to ensure our systems are secure and protected against cyberattacks and intrusions.
BREAKING: Chinese hackers stole 60,000 emails from US State Department in Microsoft hack, Senate staffer told Reuters pic.twitter.com/1eud77W4Ct
— Insider Paper (@TheInsiderPaper) September 27, 2023
It has been suggested that China is behind the recent hacking scandal which saw tens of thousands of emails stolen from U.S. State Department accounts through Microsoft’s email platform.
However, Beijing has denied these allegations and continues to refute such claims as false and unfounded accusations designed to sow suspicion between the two countries at an already tense time in their relationship.
The widespread hack has once again drawn attention to Microsoft’s fundamental role in providing IT services for the federal government, leading Senator Eric Schmitt to remark that “we need to take a hard look at the federal government’s reliance on a single vendor as a potential weak point” in protecting our systems from further attacks like this one in future.
Microsoft responded earlier this month by acknowledging that senior officials at both the Commerce and State Departments had become victims of what they termed ‘Storm-0558′, which is believed to be behind several webmail account break-ins running through Outlook services.
The company has faced criticism over their security measures since then however, it appears that steps are being taken by the State Department themselves in order to protect their systems—such as moving towards hybrid environments with multiple vendors and improved uptake of multi-factor authentication protocols.
What does seem certain though is that this attack serves yet another stark reminder of just how real threats posed by cyber criminals can be if we don’t take sufficient precautions when securing data online.
