“We detected unusual activity with a small number of internal accounts and upon review, we discovered one account had been used to view source code in a number of source code repositories,” Microsoft reported. “The account did not have permissions to modify any code or engineering systems and our investigation further confirmed no changes were made. These accounts were investigated and remediated.”
Microsoft has identified over 40 public and private organizations targeted in massive cybersecurity intrusion.
The disclosure highlights the broad reach of the attackers, which Microsoft investigators describe as “a very sophisticated nation-state actor.” They also suggest that the hackers were well-resourced. And corporate espionage may have been, as much a motive, as a breach of secret government data.
Microsoft says services protected
Former National Security Agency official, Mike Chapple is now an information technology professor at the University of Notre Dame. He commented that “Cybersecurity professionals now need to be concerned that this information falling into the wrong hands might create the next SolarWinds-level vulnerability in a Microsoft product.”
