Supply chain ⛓ Supply Chain

Microsoft Third-Party Breach (December 2020)

📅 2020-12-01 🏢 Not disclosed
Primary Source ↗

Incident Details

Russian hackers compromised Microsoft cloud customers through third party, putting emails and other data at risk. Outside Microsoft’s French headquarters in Issy-Les-Moulineaux, near Paris. The tech giant hasn’t publicly commented on the Russian intrusions to U.S. customer data. (Gerard Julien/AFP/Getty Images). Russian government hackers have compromised Microsoft cloud customers and stolen emails from at least one private-sector company, according to people familiar with the matter, a worrying development in Moscow’s ongoing cyberespionage campaign targeting numerous U.S. agencies and corporate computer networks. The intrusions appear to have occurred via a Microsoft corporate partner that handles cloud-access services, those familiar with the matter said. They did not identify the partner or the company known to have had emails stolen. Like others, these people spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss what remains a highly sensitive subject.

Technical Details

Initial Attack Vector
Compromise of third-party service provider / vendor relationship
Vendor / Product
Not disclosed
Supply Chain Attack
✅ Confirmed third-party / vendor compromise

Timeline

  1. 2020-12-01 Breach occurred
  2. 2020-12-25 Publicly disclosed