Biden Administration, Allies Attribute Microsoft Exchange Hack to China

President Joe Biden speaks about the economy and his infrastructure agenda in the State Dining Room of the White House July 19.

President Joe Biden speaks about the economy and his infrastructure agenda in the State Dining Room of the White House July 19. Andrew Harnik/AP

The Biden administration and a group of allies on Monday attributed the Microsoft Exchange server attack that impacted tens of thousands of customers with “high confidence” to hackers affiliated with the Chinese government. 

In March, Microsoft announced it discovered a threat actor the company believed to be operating out of and sponsored by China exploiting previously unknown vulnerabilities in its system. The attribution by the Biden administration and a group of allies including the European Union, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, and the Five Eyes intelligence alliance goes deeper on this assertion: according to the Monday announcement, Beijing’s Ministry of State Security (MSS) has relied on contract hackers who conduct cyber operations like ransomware attacks and cyber-enabled extortion around the world for financial gain. 

According to a senior administration official, who spoke to reporters on condition of anonymity Sunday night, the use of contract hackers as well as the scope and scale of the Microsoft incident was “eye-opening” to the administration. The FBI, the National Security Agency, and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency in an advisory detailed techniques used by the hackers in the Microsoft attack and in others.

Unlike the SolarWinds case, when the White House sanctioned a swath of Russian entities in response to the hack that affected several government agencies, the Biden administration did not announce retaliatory actions against China apart from the vocal criticism. The senior administration official emphasized that the main thrust of the criticism is to make clear to China that as long as malicious cyber activities continue, countries around the world will unite in opposition to them. But the official said the administration is not ruling out further actions to hold China accountable. 

After delivering remarks on the economy, President Joe Biden said investigators are still determining exactly what happened when asked by a reporter why “naming and shaming” but not sanctions is effective. Later, when asked during the daily press briefing whether the U.S. declined to employ sanctions against China due to potential economic blowback the U.S. might face, Press Secretary Jen Psaki said the Biden administration is not holding back. 

“We are not allowing any economic circumstance or consideration to prevent us from taking actions where warranted and also we reserve the option to take additional actions where warranted as well,” Psaki said. “This is not the conclusion of our efforts as it relates to cyber activities with China or Russia.” 

Rep. Jim Langevin, D-R.I., chairman of the House Armed Services cyber and innovative tech subcommittee and member of the Cyberspace Solarium Commission, commended the Biden administration in a statement for bringing together allies to expose malicious activity. But Langevin also said it was his “hope that attribution could have come sooner.” 

“Unfortunately, the Chinese Community Party has shown a consistent willingness to conduct expansive cyber campaigns, and the exploitation of Microsoft Exchange Server will surely not be the last we see from them,” Langevin said. “When the time comes, we must be prepared to once again marshal the international community against China’s destabilizing operations and work towards building a safe cyberspace for all.”

The senior administration official said the three-month lag time between Microsoft announcing the hack and announcing attribution came down to wanting to ensure confidence in the assessment as well as a desire to bring in allies to help send China a message. Psaki added the effort to unite allies came at the direction of the president. 

Concurrent with the Monday announcement, the Justice Department said a federal grand jury in California returned an indictment, which was unsealed Friday, charging four Chinese nationals with a conspiracy to hack into computer systems of dozens of victims including companies, universities, and government entities—both in the U.S. and abroad—between 2011 and 2018. The four hackers were working for a branch of the MSS, according to DOJ. 

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.