Microsoft Says Russian Hackers Behind SolarWinds Targeting Government Agencies

According to Microsoft Corporation MSFT, Nobelium, a Russian group, sent about 3,000 malicious emails to accounts across 150 different organizations. 

What Happened: Nobelium, the group behind the SolarWinds cybersecurity attack, now targets government agencies, think tanks, consultants, and non-governmental organizations, Microsoft said in a blog post on Thursday. 

Russian-based Nobelium has targeted around 3,000 email accounts across more than 150 different organizations, Microsoft said. 

The Nobelium carried out these attacks by breaking into an email marketing account called Constant Contact, used by the United States Agency For International Development (USAID). It then sent phishing emails that looked authentic but contained malicious content, Microsoft said.

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Tom Burt, Microsoft vice president of customer security and trust, wrote in the blog that at least a quarter of the targeted organizations were involved in international development, humanitarian issues, and human rights work.

Microsoft said it was in the process of notifying all of its targeted customers and had "no reason to believe" these attacks involved any exploitation or vulnerability in Microsoft's products or services.

Why It Matters: Microsoft's comments on the cyber threat come weeks after a May 7 ransomware attack on Colonial Pipeline shut the United States' largest fuel pipeline network for several days. 

According to Microsoft, while organizations in the U.S. had the biggest share of attacks, other targeted victims came from at least 24 countries.

"At least a quarter of the targeted organizations were involved in international development, humanitarian issues, and human rights work," Microsoft said in the blog.

The SolarWinds hack ,which was identified in December 2020, gave hackers access to the thousands of companies and government offices that used SolarWinds' software. 

Microsoft President Brad Smith described the attack as "the largest and most sophisticated attack the world has ever seen." 

This month, Russia's spy chief denied responsibility for the SolarWinds cyber-attack but said he was "flattered" by the accusations from the United States and Britain that Russian foreign intelligence was behind such a sophisticated hack, Reuters reports.