Russian hack targeted USAID, human rights groups, Microsoft says

Tech giant’s corporate vice president says a quarter of those targeted were involved in development, human rights and humanitarian work.

Russian hackers behind the SolarWinds cyberattack, a huge campaign that saw the widespread hacking of several United States federal agencies, have launched a new round of attacks targeting “government agencies, think tanks, consultants, and non-governmental organizations”, according to Microsoft. This week’s wave of attacks by the Nobelium group targeted about 3,000 email accounts of more than 150 organisations spanning 24 countries, with the largest share of the attack targeting the US, Tom Burt, the tech giant’s corporate vice president, wrote in a blog post on Thursday. Notably, the Russian group was able to gain access to an email marketing account used by the State Department’s international aid agency, USAID, from which it targeted other organisations.