Microsoft acknowledges China email hack

Microsoft on Monday acknowledged the cyberattack on its Outlook email system in China.

“We are aware of a small number of customers impacted by malicious routing to a server impersonating Outlook.com,” a company spokesperson said by email.

{mosads}GreatFire, a nonprofit that monitors censorship in China, noticed the incident over the weekend and revealed its findings Monday morning. Analysts believe the Chinese government hit Outlook with a so-called man-in-the-middle attack, in which hackers infiltrate a system and relay messages between users while scooping up all the data.

“If a customer sees a certificate warning, they should contact their Internet service provider for assistance,” the spokesperson added, referring to notification that tells users an incoming email may not be secure.

Microsoft didn’t comment on GreatFire’s suspicions that Beijing was behind the incident.

The attack closely resembles a late October hack on Apple’s cloud storage service. Many suspected the Chinese government was behind those efforts as well.

Beijing has been ramping up its Internet censorship and cyber espionage efforts in recent months. The government completely blocked Google’s email service, Gmail, and cut off the country’s access to the online portal for HSBC, the world’s second largest bank.