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Hacking. Disinformation. Surveillance. CYBER is Motherboard's podcast and reporting on the dark underbelly of the internet.
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"The Justice Department today announced a court-authorized operation to copy and remove malicious web shells from hundreds of vulnerable computers in the United States running on-premises versions of Microsoft Exchange Server software used to provide enterprise-level e-mail service," the announcement read.The action is a response to a hacking campaign earlier in the year which leveraged vulnerabilities in Microsoft Exchange Server. Multiple hacking groups used these security flaws to break into Exchange servers, in some cases stealing victims' emails. A suspected Chinese hacking group led the way, infiltrating tens of thousands of Exchange servers. In this case, the FBI "removed one early hacking group’s remaining web shells, which could have been used to maintain and escalate persistent, unauthorized access to U.S. networks," the announcement reads.Did you receive a notification from the FBI about this? We'd love to hear from you. Using a non-work phone or computer, you can contact Joseph Cox securely on Signal on +44 20 8133 5190, Wickr on josephcox, OTR chat on jfcox@jabber.ccc.de, or email joseph.cox@vice.com.
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This article has been updated to include a response from a Microsoft spokesperson.Subscribe to our cybersecurity podcast CYBER, here.