Cyber forensics course specialists report that a group of hackers have infiltrated some email accounts from Outlook users to steal several virtual assets, including Bitcoin. The total stolen amount is still unknown, although it is speculated that it could be a considerable sum.
One of the victims, a Dutch engineer, claims that a threat actor somehow got the login credentials of some of Microsoft‘s employees. The engineer claims that the attackers used this information to scan hundreds of emails, change passwords, and steal Bitcoin addresses from multiple cryptocurrency exchange platforms.
According to cyber forensics course specialists, hackers implemented a forwarding protocol with which the victims ‘ emails were forwarded to an email address controlled by the attackers when the repetition of a specific word was detected.
Unfortunately, the Dutch engineer’s case is not the only one known so far. Through Reddit, a user claimed to have lost over $20k USD in cryptocurrency after their data related to a Microsoft service was compromised. “Hackers didn’t even have to steal my credentials; they just gained access to the content of my email by making a password reset request”, the user says.
The victims have accused the company of trying to cover up this security incident in Outlook. Although the incident was revealed a couple of weeks ago by cyber forensics course specialists, Microsoft responded by stating that the incident had only compromised some metadata related to the users ‘ email addresses.
However, by revealing that the content of the victims’ emails had also been compromised, Microsoft changed its initial statements and began the process of notifying the hacking victims.
Specialists from the International Institute of Cyber Security (IICS) believe that Microsoft was wrong in deciding to downplay a serious security incident. The experts believe that the company tried to hide something obvious and this could generate a lot of problems in their image, in addition to the potential loss of customers.
He is a well-known expert in mobile security and malware analysis. He studied Computer Science at NYU and started working as a cyber security analyst in 2003. He is actively working as an anti-malware expert. He also worked for security companies like Kaspersky Lab. His everyday job includes researching about new malware and cyber security incidents. Also he has deep level of knowledge in mobile security and mobile vulnerabilities.
