Tag: Microsoft

Microsoft warns Russia, China and Iran targeting US election

TheHill.com

Microsoft on Thursday reported that it is seeing “increasing” cyberattacks originating in Russia, China and Iran targeting its customers, including attacks against political groups and the presidential campaigns of President Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden.

Tom Burt, corporate vice president of customer security and trust at Microsoft, detailed in a blog post the efforts by three major foreign hacking groups to target the campaigns, along with other political organizations and individuals.

“The activity we are announcing today makes clear that foreign activity groups have stepped up their efforts targeting the 2020 election as had been anticipated, and is consistent with what the U.S. government and others have reported,” Burt wrote.  Continue reading.

Microsoft Says Russian Operation Targeted U.S. Conservative Groups As Midterms Loom

The following article by Colin Dwyer and Sasha Ingber was posted on the NPR.org website August 21, 2018:

Credit: Raphael Satter, AP

Updated at 11:44 a.m. ET

A familiar cyberattack suspect linked with the Russian intelligence service has resurfaced in the months leading up to the U.S. midterm elections, according to Microsoft. The tech giant announced overnight that last week it executed a court order to disrupt six fraudulent websites set up by a hacker group known by many names — most often APT28, but also Fancy Bear or Strontium, among others.

The unit has been associated with the Russian spy agency GRU and blamed for a raft of high-profile hacks across the world in recent years — including the breaches of the Democratic National Committee’s network during the 2016 presidential election.

In this case, Microsoft says the group established a half-dozen domains meant to be confused with two conservative groups, the U.S. Senate and even Microsoft’s own suite of products. Two of those targets, the nonprofit International Republican Institute and the Hudson Institute research center, have criticized the Kremlin.

View the complete article here.

Corporate Giants Jump Into Trump’s Tariff Fight

The following article by Sean McMinn was posted on the Roll Call website July 24, 2018:

Microsoft, Cisco among those that started lobbying on tariffs this year

Microsoft founder Bill Gates rides the Senate escalator with Sen. Jeff Flake, R-AZ., in 2014. Credit: Tom Williams, CQ Roll Call file photo

President Donald Trump’s burgeoning trade war has prompted some big names to join the fight on tariffs.

Of the 20 largest spenders that indicated they were lobbying on tariffs in the most recent round of disclosure filings, nine of these companies or trade associations began doing so in the past year.

Google — which has spent about $11 million on lobbying so far this year, according to its reports to Congress — leads that list of newcomers. It reported lobbying for the first time on tariffs in the first quarter of this year. The tech giant specifically indicated it was lobbying the House and Senate on “China tariffs.”

View the complete article here.