The federal government says it is joining our allies in accusing hackers employed by the People’s Republic of China of exploiting Microsoft exchange servers.
Ottawa says, in March, Microsoft disclosed vulnerabilities in its exchange servers. The activity is said to have put several thousand Canadian entities at risk; a risk that the government says persists in some cases, even when patches from Microsoft have been applied. Globally, an estimated 400,000 servers have been affected.

The government says it’s believed the intent was to gain access to networks worldwide for the theft of intellectual property and to acquire personally identifiable information.

Ottawa says the hackers are highly sophisticated and have demonstrated an ability to achieve sustained, covert access to Canadian and allied networks beyond the compromising of Microsoft exchange servers.

It appear that no retaliatory action is anticipated. Ottawa says only that the Canadian Centre for Cyber Security has put out guidance on mitigating the ongoing threat posed by Microsoft exchange server vulnerabilities.