Russian Hackers Gain Access to Microsoft Senior Leaders’ Emails

Hackers with links to the Russian government have gained access to the emails of some of Microsoft’s senior leaders, according to a statement released by the US software giant on Friday. The attack, which began in late November and was discovered on January 12, resulted in the hackers downloading certain documents attached to the emails. While Microsoft did not disclose which senior members were affected, it did reveal that corporate email accounts of members from its cybersecurity and legal teams were also compromised. The threat actor behind the attack was identified as Midnight Blizzard, the Russian state-sponsored actor also known as Nobelium. Microsoft clarified that the breach was not a result of vulnerabilities in its products or services, emphasizing that there was no evidence of access to customer environments, production systems, source code, or AI systems. The company stated that the hackers initially appeared to be targeting accounts for information related to Midnight Blizzard itself, but did not provide further details on how the focus of the attackers had shifted since then. Microsoft assured that the number of employee accounts affected was a very small percentage out of its approximately 221,000 employees as of June 30. Despite the breach, there is no indication that customer data or key systems were compromised.