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| Microsoft seized the server of Chinese hacking group Nickel |
Microsoft's digital crime division has confiscated 42 websites. The Chinese hacking organization Nickel has used these sites to attack organizations in the United States and around the world.
Microsoft said the attacks were likely to gather intelligence from government agencies, think tanks and human rights organizations.
According to court documents, on December 2, the US District Court in Virginia authorized the company to monitor pirated websites so that the company can redirect traffic from those sites to its servers.
However, this does not prevent nickel from attacking. However, Microsoft said it should help protect current and future victims while learning more about Nickel's business.
After Microsoft's digital crime division began banning nickel, Google announced that it would sue two Russians suspected of running the Glupteba botnet.
Bots have been used to infect 1 million Windows devices. Meanwhile, the cybercrime investigation and threat analysis team worked together to delete approximately 63 million Google Docs, 1,183 Google accounts, 908 cloud projects, and 870 Google Ads accounts linked to the distribution sold by Glupteba.
In the software giant's first complaint, the company said Nickel uses a variety of methods to install malware on victims' devices, including VPN hacking and third-party phishing.
Due to the nature of the nickel attack, the company was able to steal sensitive information from the device without the user's knowledge.
Microsoft confiscates 42 hacked websites
The complaint states that by infecting the victim's computer, Nickel released malware that is said to alter the deepest and most sensitive level of the Windows operating system.
“The result of these changes is that the user’s copy of Windows has been tampered with and the user does not know. It has become a tool for stealing data and sensitive information from users.
Microsoft said it has been tracking Nickel since 2016. This organization is also known as APT15, KE3CHANG, Vixen Panda, Royal APT and Playful Dragon.
Nickel's targets are diplomatic organizations and foreign ministries around the world. Including the countries of North America, South America, Central America, the Caribbean, Europe and Africa.
So far, 24 lawsuits have been filed. The company said it has shut down more than 10,000 hacked websites in total and banned 600,000 potentially malicious websites from being registered.