China-linked hackers exploiting flaws in attacks: Microsoft

It says state-backed groups are targeting software used by US govt, firms worldwide

- Vivian Wang

BEIJING — Microsoft has accused Chinese state-sponsored actors of exploiting vulnerabilities in one of its popular collaboration software products, SharePoint, which is used by US government agencies and many companies worldwide.

Microsoft said in a notice on its security blog on July 22 that it had identified at least two China-based groups linked to the Chinese government that it said had been taking advantage of security flaws in its SharePoint software. Such attacks aim to sneak into the computer systems of users.

These groups, called Linen Typhoon and Violet Typhoon, were ones that Microsoft said it had been tracking for years. They had been targeting organizations and personnel related to government, defense, human rights, higher education, media, and financial and health services in the United States, Europe and East Asia, it added.

Microsoft said another actor, which it called Storm-2603, was also involved in the hacking campaign. It said it had "medium confidence" that Storm-2603 was a "China-based threat actor".