Russia-based hackers are responsible for the majority of attacks – nationwide – on Microsoft customers, according to new data from the company.
Microsoft has issued 13,000 alerts about nationwide hacking attempts to its customers over the past two years, with 52% of the incidents between July 2019 and June 2020 related to Russian hackers — whose targets range from elections to the Olympics, according to a report published Tuesday. Iran was responsible for a quarter of the alerts, while China was responsible for 12%. The rest of the nation-state activity observed by Microsoft came from North Korea and other countries.
Russian hackers have targeted electoral and political organizations in multiple countries, as well as nonprofit groups, professional services and the higher education sector, Microsoft said. Kremlin-linked hackers also tried to break into 16 sports and anti-doping organizations on three continents amid investigations into doping among Russian athletes.
“We see state-affiliated attackers constantly evolving and trying new techniques ,” said Tom Burt, a Microsoft vice president. “Attackers benefit from being so well-resourced, determined and agile.” Foreign hackers have continued to target organizations related to U.S. politics in recent weeks , he said.
Iranian hackers have also been very prolific, increasing the volume of their attacks over the past six months, Burt said. In August 2019 alone, Iranian hackers attacked 241 Microsoft accounts associated with the U.S. and current and former U.S. officials, political journalists and prominent Iranians living abroad, the report said. While only four of those attacks were successful, Microsoft expects an increase in activity as the U.S. election approaches.
Hackers based in China “attempted to obtain information about organizations related to the upcoming U.S. presidential election,” according to Microsoft. These hackers have also been active in cyberattacks related to medical research. Among multiple hacking attempts at medical research institutions in the U.S. and Asia, China-based hackers attacked a U.S. university researching a coronavirus vaccine in March.
China is one of 16 countries that Microsoft has observed targeting organizations involved in the global Covid-19 response efforts. Targets of these attacks have included global medical aid and humanitarian aid groups along with government healthcare organizations.
But China has also been a victim of attacks that have sought to exploit the pandemic. “China, the United States and Russia have been hit hardest, but nearly every country in the world has faced at least one Covid-19, with the volume of successful attacks in countries affected by the outbreak increasing as fear and the desire for information has grown,” the Microsoft report said.
Hospitals and other entities have also been hit by ransomware, with their files locked until a ransom. Ransomware is the “most problematic” and “fastest growing” threat in cyberspace, Burt said.
