Microsoft says its personal buyer assist instruments had been compromised by the SolarWinds hackers

Microsoft says a few of its buyer assist instruments had been accessed by the hacking group Nobelium, which was additionally related to the SolarWinds assaults, because of a Microsoft customer support agent’s pc being compromised. Microsoft told Reuters that the agent had restricted entry, and was capable of see issues like what providers clients used, and their billing contact data. According to Microsoft, the hackers used the data gleaned from the instruments to begin “highly targeted” assaults on particular Microsoft clients.

The assaults, Microsoft says, had been half of a bigger Nobelium marketing campaign largely targeted on IT firms and governments all through the world. The firm says it’s reached out to the purchasers who had been impacted by the hacking group’s use of the instruments, and that Nobelium now not has entry to the client assist agent’s gadget.

Microsoft has talked about safety lots at present, particularly in relation to its upcoming Windows 11, as the corporate tries to make the case for requiring customers to have particular {hardware} with a purpose to improve. Incidents like these, the place one compromised pc may give hackers a head begin on future assaults, are illustrative of the cat-and-mouse sport that Microsoft performs with these seeking to breach its safety.