As the Microsoft email software hack spreads ... [View all]

As the Microsoft email software hack spreads, the White House is 'closely tracking' an emergency patch for vulnerabilities

https://www.businessinsider.com/as-microsoft-email-software-hack-spreads-experts-brace-for-more-impact-2021-3

The hackers behind the powerful set of digital intrusion tools exposed by Microsoft this week are on a tear, breaking into organizations across the United States and Europe.

With the weekend looming, experts say it is only a matter of time before the break-in tools are cloned by other spies or cybercriminals, with the potential to compound the problem for users of Microsoft's widely used Exchange email and calendaring software.

Wielding tools that exploited four previously unknown vulnerabilities, the allegedly Chinese group that Microsoft dubs "Hafnium" has been breaking into email servers since January, remotely and silently draining inboxes of their messages without having to send a single malicious email or rogue attachment.

The White House is closely tracking an emergency patch Microsoft Corp has released, US national security adviser Jake Sullivan said on Thursday, after a hacking group recently broke into organizations using a flaw in the company's mail server software.

"We are closely tracking Microsoft's emergency patch for previously unknown vulnerabilities in Exchange Server software and reports of potential compromises of U.S. think tanks and defense industrial base entities," Sullivan said on Twitter.