REUTERS/Kacper Pempel/Illustration/File photo Acquire Licensing RightsCompanies Microsoft Corp FollowWASHINGTON, Sept 27 (Reuters) - Chinese hackers who breached Microsoft's (MSFT.O) email platform this year managed to steal tens of thousands of emails from U.S. State Department accounts, a Senate staffer told Reuters on Wednesday.
The staffer, who attended a briefing by State Department IT officials, said the officials told lawmakers that 60,000 emails were stolen from 10 State Department accounts.
U.S. officials and Microsoft said in July that Chinese state-linked hackers since May had accessed email accounts at around 25 organizations, including the U.S. Commerce and State Departments.
The hackers compromised a Microsoft engineer's device, which allowed them to breach the State Department's email accounts, according to the briefing.
The State Department did not immediately return a message seeking comment on Wednesday, and Schmitt wasn't available for an interview.
Persons:
Kacper, Eric Schmitt, Microsoft's, Schmitt, Raphael Satter, Zeba Siddiqui, Leslie Adler
Organizations:
REUTERS, Microsoft Corp, WASHINGTON, U.S . State Department, State Department IT, Department, East, Microsoft, U.S . Commerce, State, State Department, ., The State Department, U.S . State, Commerce, Reuters, Thomson
Locations:
East Asia, Europe, China, Beijing