Microsoft was delighted to announce that it had taken control over 50 websites that were operated by a hack group in North Korea.
This after the American technology giant won a lawsuit against the cyberattack organization called “Thallium.”
Among the copycat domains that were recovered by Microsoft include “hotrnall.com,” “office356-us.org,” and “mai1.info.”
In a blog post, Microsoft’s Corporate Vice President of Customer Security & Trust Tom Burt said the hackers utilized a phishing strategy wherein personal information of individuals was gathered through social sites and domains. These details were maximized to create tricky emails that directed users to fake websites.
A deceptive software was also reportedly used by Thallium to negotiate systems and steal highly sensitive data from the users.
Microsoft furthered that Thallium’s victims, mostly based in Japan, U.S. and South Korea, are the “members of organizations focused on world peace and human rights, and individuals that work on nuclear proliferation issues.”
As stated in the post, Thallium is the fourth nation-state hacking group identified by Microsoft as an implementor of malicious cyberattacks. Other groups were from China, Iran and Russia.
Technology professionals say that the only way to alleviate if not totally halt phishing and other cyber activities is to always double-check URLs and password management settings.
