Global Hacking Scandals

Chinese hackers hacked Microsoft


From January to March 2021 hackers in China hacked Microsoft Exchange, an email system for businesses and government offices, and 30,000 accounts were infected.

Q: Why did they target Microsoft Exchange?


microsoft-china-hack-01.jpg
  • confidential information

  • intellectual property

  • surveillance software


surveillance = (noun) “ser-vey-lunss”
= to watch closely (and often secretly)


Q: Do you think the Chinese government is connected to the hackers?



Microsoft said the Chinese government probably sponsored the attack.

On July 19th the US government, the EU, UK, Japan and Australia accused China of hacking Microsoft.

Q: Are you surprised by this?

Q: How do you think China will respond?

When Russia was accused of this in 2020 there were trade sanctions against them. Do you think these countries will impose trade sanctions on China?



Background:

  • It’s very rare for government to criticize China because of their economic dependence on them (cheap parts, factories and rare metals). By working as a group they have more power to avoid an individual attack on one country

  • It’s unlikely trade sanctions will be imposed

 

 

Governments are hacking smartphones

17 newspapers from around the globe collaborated on a story about NSO Group, an Israeli company that sells software to government that can hack into smartphones.

The confirmed customers are:

  • Rwanda

  • Saudi Arabia

  • Hungary

  • India

  • UAE

  • Azerbaijan

  • Bahrain

  • Kazakhstan

  • Mexico,

  • Morocco

Q: What’s your image of these governments?

  • corruption

  • human rights

  • democracy


Q: Why do governments want to hack into people’s phones?



The contract says the government can only use the software on criminals or terrorists.

Q: Do you think governments used the software on other types of people?


A target list of of 50,000 phone numbers was leaked. Targets included:

  • journalists

  • human rights lawyers

  • government ministers

  • diplomats

  • political activists

Notable leaders:

  • Presidents of France, Mexico, South Africa, Morocco

  • Prime Minister of Pakistan

  • King of Morocco

  • President of the EU council

  • Director General of WHO

Notable Journalists from:

  • France 24

  • Associated Press

  • Bloomberg

  • Economist

  • Reuters

  • Wall Street Journal,

  • Financial Times

  • CNN

  • New York Times

  • Al Jazeera





Q: What should countries do to stop this happening?

 
 

Sources:

  • https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/06/technology/microsoft-hack-china.html

  • https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-57889981

  • https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jul/20/emmanuel-macron-identified-in-leaked-pegasus-project-data

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