There’s something truly shocking happening in the world of servers, as thousands of Microsoft Exchange servers are still compromised by hackers, even after applying the fixes issued by Microsoft. This was stated by a top U.S. cybersecurity official on Monday, which took into consideration data from cybersecurity companies.
Brandon Whales is the acting director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, and he said that the owners of the email servers were compromised before Microsoft Corp. could issue an effective patch three weeks ago, and have to take additional measures to remove the hackers from their networks.
The servers which unfortunately remain compromised can be used as a Launchpad for criminal hackers to actually imitate ransomware attacks on computer networks, where files are encrypted and even held for ransom in exchange for a payment.
Thousands of Microsoft Exchange servers are still compromised by hackers even after applying fixes, a top U.S. cybersecurity official said Monday https://t.co/UYmj10zhVU
— Bloomberg (@business) March 22, 2021
Now, to give you a little bit more of a context if you are not in the loop, last week, Microsoft released a tool that allows owners of on-premise Exchange servers to patch the security flaws with a single click. Hackers could have, however, already breached those servers, and can be inside of the computer network even weeks after the fix is applied. Microsoft said that the attack started with a Chinese government-backed hacking group, which was accused of exploiting previously unknown vulnerabilities within the Microsoft Exchange business email software.
How did Microsoft respond to these claims?
“We remain committed to supporting our customers against these attacks, to innovating on our security approach, and to partnering closely with governments and the security industry to help keep our customers and communities secure.”
If you’re curious about the aftermath, around 45% of the vulnerable systems have been patched throughout the past week, according to a National Security Council Spokesperson. There are now fewer than 10.000 vulnerable systems remaining within the U.S., which is a drastic difference from the 120.00 that were active at the start.
