Microsoft warns of Chinese hacking group Silk Typhoon spying on cloud technology
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Silk Typhoon was behind a December hack that targeted the US Treasury Department, compromising more than 400 computers.
PHOTO: LIANHE ZAOBAO
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WASHINGTON – Microsoft has warned that an advanced Chinese hacking group is waging a campaign of supply-chain attacks.
The company’s threat intelligence division said in a blog post on March 5 that the group – known as Silk Typhoon – is targeting remote management tools and cloud applications in order to spy on a range of companies and organisations in the United States and elsewhere.
Microsoft said it observed in late 2024 that hackers were targeting cloud storage services, from which they would steal keys that could be used to access customer data.
The group breached state and local government organisations and companies in the technology sector, seeking information on US government policy and documents related to law enforcement investigations.
Silk Typhoon was behind a December hack that targeted the US Treasury Department, compromising more than 400 computers, Bloomberg News previously reported.
According to Microsoft, the group is “well-resourced and technically efficient” and has “one of the largest targeting footprints” among China-based cyber-espionage actors.
It has been seen targeting organisations across a wide-range of sectors for the purposes of spying, including those operating in health care, legal services, higher education, defence, energy and government, Microsoft said.
Silk Typhoon is distinct from another Chinese hacking group known as Salt Typhoon
