China has been accused of hacking into Microsoft Exchange servers
China has been accused by the United Kingdom and the European Union of carrying out a significant cyber strike earlier this year.
Over a quarter of a million servers throughout the world were affected by the attack, which targeted Microsoft Exchange servers.
The EU was the first to issue a statement, claiming that the attack originated in “Chinese territory,” while the UK said that Chinese state-backed actors were to blame. The United States is likely to follow suit.
Other espionage activity was also blamed on the Chinese Ministry of State Security, according to the governments.
The United States and the United Kingdom have regularly condemned nation-state cyber-campaigns, but the EU’s decision to join them in condemning Beijing demonstrates the seriousness with which this matter has been treated.
Some features of this case, according to Western intelligence officials, are far more serious than anything they’ve seen previously.
The hackers took advantage of a flaw in Microsoft Exchange that allowed backdoors to be installed on servers, allowing them to get even more access.
According to the United Kingdom, the hack is expected to enable large-scale espionage, including the theft of personal data and intellectual property.
