Russian Hackers Resume U.S. Cyber Offensive, Microsoft Says (1)

The Russian hackers behind the SolarWinds campaign have escalated their attacks on U.S. federal agencies, think tanks and non-governmental organizations as part of intelligence gathering efforts on behalf of their government, Microsoft Corp. said late Thursday.

In a blog post, Microsoft Vice President Tom Burt said this past week’s attack -- which is still ongoing -- granted access to about 3,000 email accounts at more than 150 organizations by infiltrating a digital marketing service used by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), called Constant Contact.

The hackers distributed phishing emails, among them “Special Alerts,” declaring that ...