Chinese hackers intent on collecting intelligence on the United States gained access to government email accounts, Microsoft disclosed on Tuesday night.
In a blog post, Microsoft said about 25 organizations, including government agencies, had been compromised by the hacking group, which used forged authentication tokens to get access to individual email accounts.
Hackers had access to at least some of the accounts for a month before the breach was detected, Microsoft said.
The new intrusion involved far fewer email accounts and did not go as deep into the targeted systems, Microsoft officials said.
Nevertheless, having access to government email for a month before being detected could allow the hackers to learn information useful to the Chinese government and its intelligence services.
Organizations:
United, Microsoft
Locations:
United States