Microsoft Breach Widens Sixfold In Days—NIH, South Africa's Treasury Among 400 Hit: Chinese State Hackers Reportedly To Blame

The impact of the serious flaw in Microsoft Corporation's (NASDAQ:MSFT) SharePoint servers has reached more than 400 organizations worldwide.

What Happened: Dutch cybersecurity firm Eye Security, which detected an early wave of attacks, reported a sixfold increase in victims within a few days, reported Bloomberg. 

Among those breached is the U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration, the agency responsible for maintaining America's nuclear arsenal, the report said. The National Institutes of Health was also impacted.

South Africa's National Treasury also confirmed malware was found in its network and is working with Microsoft to resolve the issue.

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Eye Security co-owner Vaisha Bernard warned that the real number of victims "might be much higher as there can be many more hidden ways to compromise servers that do not leave traces."

In a previous emailed statement, Microsoft directed Benzinga to a blog which stated that the tech giant is aware of ongoing attacks targeting on-premises SharePoint Server users by exploiting vulnerabilities that were only partially fixed in the July Security Update.

Why It's Important: On Tuesday, Microsoft attributed the attacks to Chinese state-backed hacker groups, including "Linen Typhoon," "Violet Typhoon" and "Storm-2603."

The breach has come amid ongoing geopolitical tension between the U.S. and China. U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent confirmed the attacks would be on the agenda during next week's trade talks in Stockholm, the report added.

Price Action: On Wednesday, Microsoft shares rose by 0.12% during regular trading and added another 0.12% in after-hours trading, according to Benzinga Pro data.

Benzinga's Edge Stock Rankings indicate that MSFT continues to demonstrate strong momentum over the short, medium and long term. However, despite its robust momentum, the stock’s value rating remains comparatively low. More performance insights can be found here.

Photo courtesy: Tada Images / Shutterstock.coma

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