Bulletins

US blames the Chinese government for Microsoft Exchange hack

The EU and NATO agreed.

US blames the Chinese government for Microsoft Exchange hack

A White House statement claims the Chinese government's responsibility in ransomware operations.

Photo: Colin Sabatier/Unsplash

Along with a large group of allies, including the EU and NATO, the U.S. government blamed a broad "pattern of malicious cyber activity" on China.

A statement issued by the White House on July 19 says that the Biden administration is "aware that [People's Republic of China] government-affiliated cyber operators have conducted ransomware operations against private companies that have included ransom demands of millions of dollars." It also says with "a high degree of confidence" that hackers affiliated with China's Ministry of State Security recently exploited vulnerabilities in Microsoft Exchange "to compromise tens of thousands of computers and networks worldwide."

The Department of Justice also announced "criminal charges against four MSS hackers addressing activities concerning a multiyear campaign targeting foreign governments and entities in key sectors, including maritime, aviation, defense, education, and healthcare in [at] least a dozen countries."

Jamie Condliffe

Jamie Condliffe ( @jme_c) is the executive editor at Protocol, based in London. Prior to joining Protocol in 2019, he worked on the business desk at The New York Times, where he edited the DealBook newsletter and wrote Bits, the weekly tech newsletter. He has previously worked at MIT Technology Review, Gizmodo, and New Scientist, and has held lectureships at the University of Oxford and Imperial College London. He also holds a doctorate in engineering from the University of Oxford.

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Bulletins