Microsoft's Security Glitch Reportedly Resulted In Chinese Hackers Infiltrating 60K US State Department Emails

The U.S. State Department suffered a significant breach as Chinese hackers reportedly accessed approximately 60,000 departmental emails through a vulnerability in Microsoft Corporation’s MSFT email platform. 

What Happened: The cyberattack reportedly compromised ten State Department accounts, primarily those involved in Indo-Pacific diplomatic efforts. 

The majority of the affected employees were working on East Asia and the Pacific issues, with one on Europe, reported Reuters, citing a Senate staffer who works for Senator Eric Schmitt. 

Earlier in July, Microsoft and U.S. officials disclosed a cyber infiltration by Chinese state-linked hackers in approximately 25 organizations, including the U.S. Commerce and State Departments. However, the full extent of the breach is yet to be determined.

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The incident further escalated the strained U.S.-China relations, with Beijing refuting the allegations. The breach has also raised questions about Microsoft’s significant role in providing IT services to the U.S. government.

In response to the cyberattack, the State Department is transitioning toward “hybrid” environments involving multiple vendors and enhanced multi-factor authentication to strengthen its system defenses.

The Senate staffer’s briefing also revealed that the hackers could infiltrate the State Department’s email accounts by compromising a Microsoft engineer’s device.

Why It Matters: The incident underscored the growing sophistication of Chinese hackers, as it was previously reported that an advanced cyber-espionage operation targeted Microsoft email accounts of U.S. government officials.

Microsoft has previously admitted to technical errors leading to the Chinese government gaining access to high-ranking officials’ emails in the Biden administration. 

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