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<strong>In yet another big cyber-attack after SolarWinds, at least 30,000 organisations across the US, including government and commercial firms, have been hacked by China-based threat actors who used Microsoft&#39;s Exchange Server software to enter their networks.</strong></p>
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According to KrebsOnSecurity, the China-based espionage group exploited four vulnerabilities in Microsoft Exchange Server email software.</p>
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The vulnerabilities allowed hackers to gain access to email accounts, and also gave them the ability to install malware, according to Microsoft which reported about the China-based threat actors but did not reveal the scale at which tens of thousands of organisations have been hit.</p>
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Two cybersecurity experts who have briefed US national security advisors on the attack told KrebsOnSecurity the Chinese hacking group seized control over &quot;hundreds of thousands&quot; of Microsoft Exchange Servers worldwide.</p>
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Exchange Server is primarily used by business customers.</p>
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Microsoft has released several security updates to fix the vulnerabilities, advising its customers to install those immediately.</p>
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Earlier this week, Microsoft warned its customers against a new sophisticated nation-state cyber-attack that has its origin in China and is primarily targeting on-premises &#39;Exchange Server&#39; software of the tech giant.</p>
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Called &quot;Hafnium,&quot; it operates from China and is attacking infectious disease researchers, law firms, higher education institutions, defence contractors, policy think tanks and NGOs in the US for the purpose of exfiltrating information.</p>
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&quot;While Hafnium is based in China, it conducts its operations primarily from leased virtual private servers (VPS) in the US,&quot; said Tom Burt, Corporate Vice President, Customer Security and Trust at Microsoft.</p>
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This was the eighth time in the past 12 months that Microsoft has publicly disclosed nation-state groups targeting institutions critical to civil society.</p>
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Nine federal agencies and about 100 private sector companies were compromised as a result of an earlier SolarWinds hack, the White House had said.</p>
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In a widespread cyber-attack on US federal agencies and enterprises via SolarWinds software, hackers also broke into the networks of NASA and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).</p>
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The Joe Biden administration was preparing sanctions against Russia as the cybercriminals are &quot;likely Russian in origin&quot;.</p>
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<em>(IANS)</em></p>
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