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| Russia is responsible for half of the state-sponsored hacker attacks |
According to the latest research by Microsoft, 58% of all government-sponsored cyber attacks on Western targets in the past year were in Russia.
Notable targets reportedly included government agencies and think tanks in the US, UK, Ukraine and NATO member states in Europe.
In the fiscal year ending June 30, the disruptive effectiveness of SolarWinds hackers also increased the success rate of Russian government-sponsored hackers to 32%, from 21% in the first 12 months.
Microsoft said in its second annual Digital Defense Report (July 2020 to June 2021) that China is responsible for less than a tenth of government-sponsored hacker attacks that Microsoft has detected. However, in 44% of cases it was possible to hack the target network.
Russian state-sponsored hacker attacks are well known. Microsoft's report provides unusually specific details about how it was attacked by other American enemies.
The report also notes that ransomware attacks are a serious and growing epidemic. The United States is the country most affected. It has been attacked more than three times as the second largest target country.
Ransomware attacks have both criminal and commercial motives. It usually requires a certain amount of cryptocurrency in exchange for access to a computer system.
By contrast, government-sponsored hacking attacks are primarily intended for information gathering, whether for national security, business advantage, or strategic reasons, so the government generally tolerates them.
The report, which indicates that Microsoft works closely with government agencies in Washington, did not include hacking attacks by the US government. The SolarWinds attack caused embarrassment to the US government. However, some lawmakers in Washington are calling for some form of retaliation.
President Joe Biden is having a hard time giving vague warnings to President Vladimir Putin in order to fight ransomware criminals. However, several senior government cybersecurity officials said they see no evidence in this regard.
Microsoft warnings only reflect what you can find
According to Kristen Goodwin, Head of Digital Security at Microsoft, the overall hit rate for hackers across the country is between 10% and 20%.
The company said China's geopolitical goals deserve mention in its recent cyber espionage activities, including investments in infrastructure for the Belt and Road Initiative by the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Central and South America, and the Taiwan Province and Hong Kong of Beijing universities. . regional ambitions.
The findings also refute the argument that Chinese cyber espionage interests are limited to intellectual property theft. Russian hacking attempts surged 52% in 2019-2020 as part of a global hacking attack discovered by Microsoft's National Media Service to warn customers.
In the fiscal year ending June 30, North Korea ranked second as the country of origin with 23%. In contrast, the previous rate was less than 11%.
China fell from 12% to 8%. But the extent of the experience and its effectiveness are two different things. Last year, the error rate in North Korea when searching for people via email was 94%.
The company reported that 4% of all state-sponsored hacking attacks were related to the targeted critical infrastructure. Compared to Chinese or Iranian Internet customers, Russian customers are less interested.
After the SolarWinds hack was discovered last December, the Russians turned their attention back to government agencies involved in foreign policy, national defense and national security. Followed by think tanks, then health care.
Its focus is on organizations that develop and test coronavirus vaccines and treatments in the United States, Australia, Canada, India and Japan.
Microsoft said the increased efficiency of Russian government hackers could herald more high-impact hacking attacks in the coming year.