Microsoft cloud customers have been compromised by Russian government hackers who have stolen emails from at least one private-sector company.
The Washington Post, attributing the information to ''people familiar with the matter,'' said the intrusions appear to have occurred via a Microsoft corporate partner that handles the cloud-access services.
The sources did not identify the partner. And they did not name the company known to have had its emails stolen.
''Our investigation of recent attacks has found incidents involving abuse of credentials to gain access, which can come in several forms,'' Jeff Jones, Microsoft’s senior director for communications, said. ''We have still not identified any vulnerabilities or compromise of Microsoft product or cloud services.''
Microsoft President Brad Smith had earlier told the Post the company had not seen any customers breached through its services. That included the Azure cloud platform used by major corporations and governments.
But the newspaper noted that Microsoft notified the cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike of an issue with a third-party reseller.
In a blog post, CrowdStrike said Microsoft had detected unusual behavior in CrowdStrike’s Azure account and that ''there was an attempt to read email, which failed.''
CrowdStrike does not use Microsoft’s email service. And it did not link the tactic to Russia.
Microsoft’s Smith had said on Dec. 17 that a suspected Russian hacking campaign targeting U.S. government agencies and international companies is ''a moment of reckoning.''
"It requires that we look with clear eyes at the growing threats we face and commit to more effective and collaborative leadership by the government and the tech sector in the United States to spearhead a strong and coordinated global cybersecurity response," he said.
Jeffrey Rodack ✉
Jeffrey Rodack, who has nearly a half century in news as a senior editor and city editor for national and local publications, has covered politics for Newsmax for nearly seven years.
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