In the early phase of June, a series of cyber disruptions caused noticeable service interruptions to Microsoft users, predominantly impacting the Outlook email service and the OneDrive file-sharing system, in addition to the company’s cloud computing platform. This turbulence was attributed to a cryptic hacker group orchestrating distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks, essentially flooding the digital platforms with an overload of redundant traffic.
Behind the cyber attacks of Outlook
Microsoft, initially hesitant to divulge the culprit, has now affirmed that these DDoS attacks were indeed masterminded by the said hacker group. Nevertheless, the tech behemoth has remained tight-lipped about the extent of the impact, with no comment on the number of customers affected or whether the disruption was worldwide. The software titan verified that the self-proclaimed “Anonymous Sudan” was behind the incident, a revelation shared through their Telegram social media channel.
The impact and aftermath
As disclosed in a blog post following an enquiry by The Associated Press, Microsoft acknowledged the attack’s “temporary impact” on some of its services. The hacker’s primary goal was “disruption and publicity,” and they were suspected of utilizing rented cloud infrastructure and virtual private networks. This allowed them to bombard Microsoft servers with traffic from botnets of hijacked computers worldwide.
Fortunately, Microsoft assures there is no proof of any customer data being accessed or compromised. While DDoS attacks are generally seen as an inconvenience, making sites inaccessible but not infiltrating them, the disruption can be vast if services of a tech giant like Microsoft are interrupted, on which much of the world’s commerce relies.
What’s next for Microsoft
Microsoft has christened the unknown attackers as “Storm-1359”, a naming practice used when the group’s affiliation remains unestablished. Pro-Russian hacking groups, notably Killnet, believed to have Kremlin ties, have been conducting similar DDoS attacks on websites of the Ukraine’s allies.
The Microsoft incident underlines how DDoS attacks continue to pose a significant risk, often overlooked in cybersecurity discourse. Given the difficulties Microsoft faced in repelling this particular attack, it suggests “a single point of failure.” The most effective defense against such attacks is to widely distribute a service, using a content distribution network for instance.
A look back
The fallout from the cyber disruptions targeting Microsoft 365 office suite was initially made public on June 5, culminating in 18,000 outage and issue reports logged on the Downdetector tracker near 11 a.m. Eastern time. The digital onslaught didn’t let up as the week progressed, with Outlook and Microsoft’s Azure cloud computing service feeling the brunt of the attacks. For a period, OneDrive’s file-hosting services were even taken offline on a global scale.
We’d love to hear your thoughts on this issue. What do you think about these disruptive attacks and their impact on the services you use daily? Please share your views and join the conversation in the comments section below!
