Microsoft is investigating reports that "say" that some people have gained access to internal source code repositories and stolen data.
The alleged intrusion is linked to the hacking group Lapsus $, which has dealt many blows to large companies: Nvidia, Samsung and Vodafone.
Evidence of the invasion emerged Sunday night when Tom Malka posted pictures on Twitter showing a conversation on Telegram with a picture of Microsoft source code repositories.
The screenshot shows that hackers downloaded source codes from Cortana and several Bing services. The post has been deleted in the meantime. So Microsoft told Bleeping Computer that it was investigating the reports.
Unlike most hacking groups, which install ransomware on the attacking systems, Lapsus $ tries to ransom downloaded data from the companies it attacked.
The main services from which Lapsus $ may have downloaded the source code appear to be Bing, Bing Maps and Cortana.
Source codes may contain valuable information. Ο κώδικας μπορεί να αναλυθεί για την ανεύρεση κενών ασφαλείας από τους hackers. Υπάρχει επίσης η πιθανότητα οι πηγαίοι κώδικες να περιέχουν πολύτιμα στοιχεία όπως πιστοποιητικά υπογραφής κώδικα, διακριτικά access or API keys. Microsoft of course has established a policy for devs that prohibits the inclusion of such elements in their source codes
Right now we don't know much about the hack. Did Lapsus$ manage to breach Microsoft's defenses? Was the team able to download data, and if so, what data was downloaded and how complete is it? The applications Bing, Bing Maps and Cortana aren't Microsoft's most important services.
But judging by Lapsus$'s track record, it's likely that the reported hack did happen. The question of whether the downloaded files are valuable enough to collect a ransom from Microsoft for not publishing them on the Internetnetwork.
