Microsoft and U.S. officials indicated today, Wednesday, that Chinese hackers linked to authorities in Beijing managed to infiltrate email accounts at around 25 entities, including institutions in the U.S. government, in a covert cyber espionage campaign since May. The U.S. State Department was one of the targeted government agencies. Microsoft stated in a release that the hacking group, dubbed Storm-0558, forged digital authentication tokens to access email accounts operating on the company’s Outlook service. The company added that the activity began in May.
White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan confirmed in an interview today that the United States quickly detected the breach, which Microsoft announced affected federal government accounts, and managed to prevent further intrusions. Sullivan said on ABC's "Good Morning America": "We discovered the breaches, and investigations are still ongoing."
The Chinese Embassy in London described this accusation as "misinformation" and labeled the U.S. government as "the largest hacking empire in the world and a global Internet thief." China has consistently denied involvement in hacking activities regardless of the evidence or context available.
