Microsoft says it found malicious software in systems

SAN FRANCISCO: Microsoft Corp has said it found malicious software in its systems related to a massive hacking campaign disclosed by US officials this week, adding a top technology target to a growing list of attacked government agencies. The Redmond, Washington company is a user of Orion, the widely deployed networking management software from SolarWinds Corp which was used in the suspected Russian attacks on vital US agencies and others.

Microsoft also had its own products leveraged to attack victims, said people familiar with the matter.

The US National Security Agency issued a rare “cybersecurity advisory” on Thursday detailing how certain Microsoft Azure cloud services may have been compromised by hackers and directing users to lock down their systems.

“Like other SolarWinds customers, we have been actively looking for indicators of this actor and can confirm that we detected malicious Solar Winds binaries in our environment, which we isolated and removed,” a Microsoft spokesperson said, adding that the company had found “no indications that our systems were used to attack others.”

One of the people familiar with the hacking spree said the hackers made use of Microsoft cloud offerings while avoiding Microsoft’s corporate infrastructure. Microsoft did not immediately respond to questions about the technique. Still, another person familiar with the matter said the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) does not believe Microsoft was a key avenue of fresh infection. Both Microsoft and the DHS, which earlier on Thursday said the hackers used multiple methods of entry, are continuing to investigate.

The FBI and other agencies have scheduled a classified briefing for members of Congress Friday. The US Energy Department also said it has evidence hackers gained access to its networks as part of the campaign. Politico had earlier reported the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), which manages the country’s nuclear weapons stockpile, was targeted.

An Energy Department spokeswoman said malware “has been isolated to business networks only” and has not impacted US national security, including the NNSA. The DHS said in a bulletin on Thursday the hackers had used other techniques besides corrupting updates of network management software by SolarWinds which is used by hundreds of thousands of companies and government agencies. — Reuters