In early June, Microsoft’s flagship office suite, which includes Outlook email and OneDrive file-sharing apps, experienced significant service disruptions due to distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks by a hacktivist group known as Anonymous Sudan. The group flooded the sites with junk traffic, impacting the availability of some services. Although Microsoft did not disclose the number of affected customers or the global impact, it confirmed that no customer data was compromised. While DDoS attacks are typically a nuisance, they can disrupt the work of millions and pose a significant risk to software service giants like Microsoft.
The extent of the impact remains uncertain, as Microsoft has not provided detailed information. Cybersecurity experts emphasize the importance of objective measures to assess customer impact and highlight the magnitude of the attacks. Microsoft named the attackers Storm-1359, but their specific affiliation remains unknown. Pro-Russian hacking groups, including Killnet, have previously carried out DDoS attacks on government and allied websites. It is unlikely that Anonymous Sudan is based in Sudan, as it collaborates with pro-Kremlin groups to spread Russian propaganda and disinformation.
The incident involving Microsoft illustrates the ongoing risk of DDoS attacks, which experts consider an unsolved problem. This attack exposed a potential single point of failure for Microsoft’s defenses, emphasizing the importance of distributing services across a content distribution network. The techniques used by the attackers are not new, some dating back to 2009.
On June 5, serious disruptions were reported, with 18,000 outage and problem reports for Microsoft 365 office suite. Outlook, Microsoft Teams, SharePoint Online, and OneDrive for Business were affected, and the attacks continued throughout the week, also impacting Microsoft’s Azure cloud computing platform. OneDrive file-hosting was temporarily down globally on June 8, but desktop clients remained unaffected.
Overall, the DDoS attacks on Microsoft’s services highlight the ongoing challenges in cybersecurity and the need for robust defenses against such threats.
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