Hacking Microsoft Servers | Common Western Front to condemn China

Nicholas Berube
Tap

Simple blame

Canada, the United States, the European Union, NATO and the United Kingdom have officially accused China of hacking into the approximately 400,000 Microsoft Exchange email servers used by many governments and private companies around the world. The group alleges that Beijing hired a group of hackers called Hafnium to carry out the intrusions. “The move has put thousands of Canadian companies at risk, and despite Microsoft taking corrective action, in some cases it will continue,” Foreign Minister Mark Garnio said in a statement on Monday. Minister of Public Security Bill Blair and Minister of National Defense, Harjit Sajjan. “Canadian Ministry of Defense (MSE) [de la Chine] Microsoft is responsible for the widespread compromise of exchange servers. ”

There is no revenge

Several observers noted that no disciplinary action was announced against Beijing on Monday. However, the intrusion of Microsoft servers discovered and announced in March is more a matter of gooey action than the target of the attack, for example, at reducing power transmission equipment or other infrastructure, said Brandon Valeriano, a Marine Corps researcher at the University of Virginia and a cyber defense expert. “You do not react to goon action with military action that attacks,” he said. They are not meant to injure or kill people కాబట్టి Since we also know that sanctions have no effect on behavior, we are not sure if it will go any further than that. No one wants data to be stolen, but it is something that all states do. ”

“Rather typical”

Such a united front to condemn the act of computer hacking is not unprecedented, but it is “typical,” said Brandon Valeriano. “When a person comes to the country and tells them they are the victim of piracy, and who the perpetrator is, it is very difficult to know what happened here, because it is just a possibility of one country. But when many countries come together, it sends a completely different message and cannot be ignored. “Since Joe Biden came to power, the United States has been more inclined to work with partner countries.” We are already seeing changes and personally want to see similar common boundaries in the future. ”

Elections in the cross shares of foreign governments

The Canadian government’s cybersecurity agency released a report last Friday outlining some of the threats posed by foreign actors to the upcoming federal election campaign, which Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is likely to unveil in the coming weeks. The report, filed by the Communications Security Establishment (CST), accused China and Russia and Iran of being behind the online attacks and threats against democratic processes in the country and elsewhere in the country. World since 2015. CSE believes that although Canada is not large at present, the goal is to have a growing number of actors with the tools, ability and understanding of the Canadian political landscape to take action in the future. ‘They were motivated by a strategic goal’.

With the Canadian Press