Microsoft admits Putin’s ‘Midnight Blizzard’ hackers broke into system, stole customer email data & accessed source code

MICROSOFT has accused a Russian state-sponsored hacking group of trying to breach its systems using stolen information.

The internet giant believes Midnight Blizzard hacked into their corporate emails in January to source the info.

Microsoft has accused a Russian state-sponsored hacking group of breaching their systems

That attack two months ago saw the hacking group, who are also known as Nobelium, breach Microsoft’s corporate email systems.

Emails, as well as documents from staff accounts, were taken.

In a statement on its blog, the company said: “In recent weeks, we have seen evidence that Midnight Blizzard is using information initially exfiltrated from our corporate email systems to gain, or attempt to gain, unauthorized access.”

That data includes some of its source code repositories and internal systems, Microsoft said.

The company’s shares edged lower following the news.

“It is apparent that Midnight Blizzard is attempting to use secrets of different types it has found,” Microsoft added.

“Some of these secrets were shared between customers and Microsoft in email, and as we discover them in our exfiltrated email, we have been and are reaching out to these customers to assist them in taking mitigating measures.”

In some ways the hackers had become more aggressive in trying to penetrate Microsoft, the company said.

For instance, the hackers’ use of “password sprays” – where an attacker uses the same password on multiple accounts in the hope of breaking in – had increased as much as tenfold compared to their January attack, Microsoft said.

The Russian embassy in Washington has previously not responded to requests for comment on Microsoft’s statements about the Midnight Blizzard attack.

Microsoft added that it had no evidence that its customer-facing systems had been compromised in the hack.