CISA claims that the recent Russian data hack on Microsoft that revealed private government data puts U.S. agencies in danger, as reported by the Washington Post.
The successful hacking of Microsoft corporate email accounts and the eavesdropping on agency-Microsoft interaction put agencies at unimaginable risk, according to CISA.
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency of the Department of Homeland Security issued an extraordinary and legally enforceable order on Tuesday to an unidentified number of companies, requiring them to change any stolen log-in credentials and investigate possible security breaches.
The mandate was made public on Thursday, after which the recipients began strengthening their defenses.
Photo: (GERARD JULIEN/AFP via Getty Images) The logo of the French headquarters of American multinational technology company Microsoft is pictured outside on March 6, 2018, in Issy-Les-Moulineaux, a Paris suburb.
According to CISA, agencies must examine the content of exfiltrated emails, reset any compromised credentials, and take further precautions to guarantee the security of the authentication methods for privileged Microsoft Azure accounts.
Because the entire U.S. government uses Microsoft's Windows operating system, Outlook email, and other applications, the Redmond, Washington-based corporation bears a great deal of responsibility for the cybersecurity of federal employees' work. Consequently, a breach on the tech giant could also mean a breach against the government.
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Russian-Backed Microsoft Breach
The warning on Tuesday broadens the potential consequences of a breach that Microsoft revealed to the government and significant corporate clients in January. Some of these clients resell Microsoft goods to other parties.
A month ago, the software behemoth announced it might target its email correspondence with hackers.
According to CISA officials, it is yet unknown whether the hackers connected to the Russian military intelligence agency SVR could get any information from the agencies that were made public.
Some security experts refer to the hacker organization as Cozy Bear or APT29, while Microsoft refers to it as Midnight Blizzard.
Microsoft's Cybersecurity
Microsoft's cybersecurity efforts continue to receive criticism. Notably, the U.S. Cyber Safety Review Board recently asserted that the tech giant's series of security lapses and deficient security culture may have avoided the Exchange Online Software incident that occurred in 2023.
President Biden ordered the report, which describes Microsoft's actions before, during, and following the extensive hack and identifies key failures in each instance; the intrusion was deemed "preventable."
The Board also concluded that Microsoft needed to alter its security culture because it was inadequate and fell short of customer expectations, particularly in light of the company's significance to the technology ecosystem and the extent to which clients depend on it to safeguard their information and business processes.
A representative of Microsoft stated in the report that Microsoft completely cooperated with the Board's examination.
The company also acknowledged the CSRB's examination into the impact of highly resourced nation-state threat actors that function continuously without the use of effective deterrents.
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