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Hackers Steal Law Enforcement Documents From Microsoft
wiredmikey writes "Microsoft on Friday said that attackers breached the email accounts of a "select number" of employees, and obtained access to documents associated with law enforcement inquiries. According to the company, a number of Microsoft employees were targeted with attacks aiming to compromise both email and social media accounts '..We have learned that there was unauthorized access to certain employee email accounts, and information contained in those accounts could be disclosed,' said Adrienne Hall, General Manager at Microsoft's Trustworthy Computing Group. 'It appears that documents associated with law enforcement inquiries were stolen,' Hall said. Targeted attacks like this are not uncommon, especially for an organization like Microsoft. What's interesting about this is that the incident was significant enough to disclose, indicating that a fair number of documents could have been exposed, or that the company fears some documents will make their way to the public if released by the attackers—which may be the case if this was a 'hacktivist' attack."
""Microsoft on Friday said that attackers breached the email accounts of a "select number" of employees,"
I see Microsoft uses hotmail internally too..
So, 'documents associated with law enforcement inquiries' seem like something of interest to two classes of people:
(A): Anyone curious about how shocked, shocked, Microsoft actually is about massive electronic eavesdropping by the feds.
(B): Technically sophisticated targets or likely targets of some law enforcement operation looking for information pertaining to their own case.
Any guesses? One of those botnet groups that Microsoft periodically tries to disrupt checking to see if they need to start retaining a lawyer, or coming soon to wikileaks?
Has anyone confirmed that the blog post disclosing this incident is actually authentic?
One of the linked-to articles links to another article from the Seattle Times dated January 21, 2014 and entitled "Official Microsoft blog hacked again by Syrian Electronic Army".
So at least one official Microsoft blog was apparently compromised within the past few days. If it happened once, there's the possibility that it could happen again.
I would feel more comfortable trusting the information about this incident if it weren't coming from a Microsoft blog post, too. I think that confirming this information via some other official channel would allow more trust to be placed in its authenticity.
no need for further surprises? if you use POT (Personal Open Terminal) you can bet your .asp you have won & still wind up on the gallows? better to obtain the confession & re-unommission form asap
If Microsoft can't educate their employees on how to avoid phishing / social engineering attacks what does this say for the rest of the world? Considering the fact that they have already had a number of other widely publicized incidents in the media recently, shouldn't they be on high alert?
I really hope at some point they decide to release actual details on what really occured, because love or hate them, Microsoft could be the company that actually does something that might actually get through to end users.
I'll look forward to the release of this information.
"So you know how we swore up and down for years that we didn't intentionally weaken Windows encryption for the NSA? Yeah, about that..."
people use e-mail to exchange law documents? I thought everyone uses fax or postal mail to send legal documents. I'm lost.
It does not appear that Microsoft is "on high alert".
I recently read over the annual reports from major tech companies, looking at the business risks they report. This is an indication of how high level executives see the risks the company faces. Google, for example, has several paragraphs covering the damage to the brand, costly remediation, and potential liability if users' private information were breached, if confidential information about new product research leaked, etc.
Microsoft lists the following risks to their business:
Competition. If large organizations start using Google Docs etc. that would severely hurt Microsoftprofits.
Product flops. Products they are developing could flop the way Surface and Windows 8.
Legal action. MS is still in trouble in Europe for unlawful behavior.
Patent infringement. MS may be infringing on other companies patents.
Nowhere did it mention security as a risk that MS executives have on their radar screen at all. This is in marked contrast to Google and some others. Several "old guard" companies make no mention of how security issues could affect their business, while newer companies seem to be slightly more aware.
Don't care if it was an actual hack or a pretend-hack to leak information. Someone needs to lift the curtain on these thousands of law enforcement requests to Microsoft, Google, Yahoo and F***book.
I'm from the Syrian Electronic army, we have the documents this article spoke of and will be sending them to the media. We have every intention of releasing them for the public to see. They call them "law enforcement" documents to pretend they have done nothing wrong, but the facts will be clear soon when it shows the correlation to the "PRISM" program discussed in Snowden's leaks. What you have here is Microsoft's confirmation that these documents are genuine. They are attempting to preempt their publication by putting forward a plausible back story. Just wait and see....
One could argue that the "damage to the brand, costly remediation, and potential liability" that google details specifically just falls under Microsoft's competition, legal action and (possibly) product flops. "We're Microsoft. Only the little people deal with details!"
On the other hand, Google spells out a lot of things they are doing or are going to do to us.. and yet we click and use the products anyway..
If they were stolen the owner wouldn't have possession or use of said items.
09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B - D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0 45 5F E1 04 22 CA 29 C4 93 3F 95 05 2B 79 2A B2
to steal some that is a matter of public record.
CAPTCHA = 'pretend'
It's difficult to be surprised when learning about further incompetence in the security area at MS. It's par for the course for them.
Yes, they have finally migrated hotmail off of BSD servers.
this is a perfect example of why you shouldnt use microsoft security essentials
Annual reports are the very LAST PLACE anyone would expect to find pertinent information.
Its jus boiler plate. Written months or years ago. A mere wrapper around obfuscated somewhat current numbers specifically designed to leave the reader guessing.
Sig Battery depleted. Reverting to safe mode.
Former Microsoft SDE here. Given universal requirements for strong passwords, security briefings on social engineering, and sensitive document protection technologies employed internally at Microsoft, it seems equally likely to me that there was no actual breach of security. I would venture that these documents were deliberately released or left unguarded for hacktavists to easily find.
Every employee at MS has compulsory training around this every year where it is clearly highlighted how these incidents can affect MS, there customers and their business. It is something they have done for a long time now. But no matter how well trained there will always people that make errors, as seems to have been the case with this incident.
For google there user's data is their product. If that is lost then google are up shit creek. If anything I think googles statements show how immature a company they are in this area. Companies like MS have been dealing with these attacks for longer than google has existed, MS is one of the most attacked companies on the planet and they have a lot of IT, procedures and training in place at all levels to prevent and mitigate this risk.
Assad's boys will be kicking down your door any day now.
Enjoy what little time you have left, because you and your al-qaida terrorist "rebel" friends are on the losing side.
Inquiries pertaining to what?
SEC, FBI, NSA?
Microsoft malfeasance?
Microsoft fraud?
Microsoft strong arm tactics?
Inquiries pertaining to Microsoft clients or consumers?
Tell you what, Microsoft, I'll be gentle on you and presume the least;
since you chose to come forward this time, I bet it's inquiries into
your own behavior and or practices.
How much do you want to bet that they got in due to stupidity of said employees using obviously guessable passwords?
Nowhere did it mention security as a risk that MS executives have on their radar screen at all.
Of course not. Why would they be? They're the ones who make Windows.
Setting aside the fact we won't get all of the facts, on a philosophical level I am beginning to lose a sense of victim, perpetrator, violation, motive, and crime. Frankly, I consider all players in this type of racquet and collective finger pointing and ass coverage to be a a twisted fetich for scumbags, liars, and thieves. The "legitimate" model for how these entities earn their keep and their general lack of commitment or accountability for anything else that results is typical human nature. Corporations may not be people, but they sure behave like impetuous, self centered flakes. Sort of like government and congress, for that matter. Welcome to the human race, I guess. Pity that biological evolution takes soooo long.
Assad's boys will be kicking down your door any day now.
Enjoy what little time you have left, because you and your al-qaida terrorist "rebel" friends are on the losing side.
I hope you're trying to be funny, but just in case, guess who're behind these ' al-qaida terrorist "rebel" friends'?
Yes, you guessed it, the USA and Saudi (same as it ever was)
not Assad.