Russia had access to emails of Federal US agencies like the FBI through Microsoft Hack

The US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has confirmed that Russian government-backed hackers, known as “Midnight Blizzard” or APT29, successfully stole emails from multiple US federal agencies in an ongoing cyberattack targeting Microsoft.

In a statement published on Thursday CISA revealed that the cyberattack, first disclosed by Microsoft in January, enabled the hackers to access federal government emails “through a successful compromise of Microsoft corporate email accounts.”

The cyberattack, which is being attributed to the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR), poses a significant risk to affected agencies, according to CISA. The agency issued a new emergency directive on April 2, requiring civilian government agencies to take immediate action to secure their email accounts in response to increased intrusions by Russian hackers.

After providing affected federal agencies with a week to reset passwords and secure compromised systems, CISA made details of the emergency directive public.

Although CISA did not identify the specific federal agencies affected by the email theft, the urgency of the situation underscores the severity of the attack.

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Microsoft, a critical technology provider for the US government, has faced growing scrutiny over its security practices following a series of intrusions by state-sponsored hackers.

In January, Microsoft disclosed that the Russian hacking group breached corporate email systems, including accounts belonging to senior leadership and employees in cybersecurity, legal, and other departments.

Subsequent investigations revealed that the hackers targeted additional organisations beyond Microsoft, including US government agencies.

Microsoft continues its efforts to expel the Russian hackers from its systems, describing the attack as ongoing. However, the company has not provided specific details on the progress of its remediation efforts since March.

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The recent breach adds to concerns about cybersecurity vulnerabilities in US government systems. An independent investigation by the US Cyber Safety Review Board attributed an earlier breach in 2023 to China government-backed hackers, citing security failures at Microsoft.

Furthermore, the US Department of Defense notified 20,000 individuals in February that their personal information was exposed online due to a misconfiguration of a Microsoft-hosted cloud email server.

As the US government grapples with escalating cyber threats, the urgency to bolster cybersecurity measures and address vulnerabilities in critical infrastructure remains paramount.