HPE first disclosed the attack in January 2024, reporting that Midnight Blizzard had gained access to its Office 365 email environment for several months. The breach was initially detected in December 2023, revealing that since May 2023, the hackers had accessed and extracted data from a limited number of mailboxes belonging to employees in cybersecurity, business operations, and other key departments.
According to a notification filed with the New Hampshire attorney general’s office, some individuals’ personal data may have been compromised. A separate filing in Massachusetts confirmed that the breach exposed Social Security numbers, driver’s license details, and financial information. HPE stated that it has contained and remediated the incident, working with forensic experts to assess the full scope of the exposure.
A company spokesperson clarified that the breach primarily affected data contained in a small percentage of employee email accounts. Impacted users and a limited number of customers whose information was included in the compromised emails have been notified. However, HPE has not disclosed the exact number of affected individuals.
The breach comes on the heels of a similar Midnight Blizzard attack on Microsoft, which was also disclosed in January 2024. In that case, the hackers used a password spraying technique to compromise a non-production test account that lacked multi-factor authentication. These incidents highlight the persistent threat posed by sophisticated nation-state attackers targeting major technology firms.
Source: Cybersecurity Dive
The European Cyber Intelligence Foundation is a nonprofit think tank specializing in intelligence and cybersecurity, offering consultancy services to government entities. To mitigate potential threats, it is important to implement additional cybersecurity measures with the help of a trusted partner like INFRA www.infrascan.net, or you can try yourself using check.website.