Is Microsoft the hero we never knew we needed? According to multiple sources, including CNN, Microsoft aided in stopping a Russian cyber hack by blocking IPs of sketchy websites that showed up on their platform. But what exactly were these cyber attacks created for?
Not to bring politics into technology, but theses Russian hackers targeted republican conservative website domains in order to interfere before midterm elections were held in the U.S. Two of the targets were Hudson Institute and the International Republican Institute. While the attempt was quickly handled, CEO of Microsoft stated that these attempts showed how there was an attempt for “disruption of democracy” by foreign platforms.
These hacks came from the same group who tried to hack the 2016 Democratic Convention. Entitled “Fancy Bear,” there were six websites in total created that Microsoft was given a court order to shut down. In essence, the goal was for the Russians to trick Senate members as well as other people in congress and the White House to share their personal information for Russian meddling. For more information on how everything went down and, more importantly, how Microsoft stopped it, check out the full playlist above.
