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The Russian group behind SolarWinds spy campaign launches new cyber weapons

Russian hijackers campaigning for SolarWinds spyware have developed new cyber-weapons to steal the email used by the US government, Microsoft said Thursday.

US technical company He said the group launched the threats this year by sending 3,000 e-mails to more than 150 government agencies, think tanks, charities and non-governmental organizations.

Microsoft began tracking the trial in January, but with risks he grew up this week after fraudulently defrauding people by emailing Constant Contact to become the United States Agency for International Development. They used it to initiate malicious, or fictional email, where hackers could do “various things from data theft to other computers on the network” if the recipient clicked the message link.

The conspiracy, which Microsoft called “an event”, is mainly aimed at the US but extends to at least 24 countries. At least a quarter of those involved participated in international development, humanitarian and human rights activities.

The company said the threats were carried out by the same Russian group that did the most SolarWinds hate campaign realized last year, when hackers stole programs designed by a Texas company to enter U.S. U.S. Treasury and Treasury departments, as well as other government agencies. The program of The White House said last month the group was part of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service.

Joe Biden, US President, is facing a call for international security efforts to follow Chinese campaign sponsored by spy who exploited the weakness of Microsoft’s email program and attacked the US fuel pipe the company is a criminal organization this month.

Biden Supervisors restrictions in Russia and signed an administrative order this month requires higher standards of cyber security for government agencies and software providers.

Microsoft said “many of the harmful effects” on its customers were blocked because the system wrote emails as spam and its software prevented malicious software from reaching them.

It is unknown at this time what he will do after leaving the post. Microsoft declined to comment.

Tom Burt, Vice President of Customer Protection and Confidence, said the attack “appears to be a continuation of several attempts at [the hackers] dealing with government agencies involved in foreign policy as one way to recruit intellectuals ”.

“With the rise of SolarWinds, it is clear that part of [the hackers’] The playbook is possible to access opportunities for those who provide reliable technology and pass on to their customers, ”he added.

Constant Contact said: “I am aware that the credentials of one of our clients have been misappropriated and used by the perpetrator in order to obtain Constant Contact contractors’ client”.

“This is just an incident, and we have temporarily suspended the affected accounts while we are working in partnership with our client, who is working on legal matters,” he added.

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© Financial Times

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