Microsoft gap exposes data: Hackers spy on thousands of email servers
Hackers have apparently exploited a huge security hole at Microsoft. US media report attacks on 30,000 systems in the US alone. Among others, research on infectious diseases and companies with defense contracts were of particular interest. According to U.S. media, tens of thousands of corporate, government and educational email servers have fallen victim to hacker attacks. A security update for the vulnerability in Microsoft's Exchange Server software has been available since last Wednesday. However, it must be installed by customers. On Friday, the German Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) urged thousands of German companies to quickly plug the gap. Reports differed widely on the number of people affected. There could be more than 250,000 victims worldwide, the Wall Street Journal wrote, citing an informed person. A former U.S. official familiar with the investigation told the financial service Bloomberg that at least 60,000 email servers were known to have been affecte...