After Apple and Facebook, Microsoft is the victim of a cyber attack

The list of American companies victims of cyber attacks continues to grow. After Apple, Facebook, Twitter, the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal, the U.S. giant Microsoft said in turn that it has been the victim of a similar cyber attack, but without finding evidence of data theft. “As reported by Facebook and Apple, Microsoft can confirm that we have recently experienced a similar intrusion,” said Matt Thomlinson, a senior security officer at Microsoft, in a blog post.

“During our investigation, we found a small number of computers, including some in our Mac business unit, that were infected by malicious software using techniques similar to those documented by other organizations,” he added. Despite the lack of evidence of data theft, the investigation continues, said Matt Thomlinson, stating that this type of cyber attack is not a surprise to Microsoft and other companies that are the target of determined and tenacious hackers.

Apple also announced that it was the target of a cyber attacks, ensuring also that it had no evidence that any data was stolen. It also said that the malware “has been poured through a website for software developers” and used a Java vulnerability for browsers.

The social network Facebook had also announced last week that this Java vulnerability was used by hackers for a ‘sophisticated’ attack against it through the contaminated site of a developer application.

Another social network, Twitter, has also released a warning regarding Java vulnerabilities announcing on February 2nd that 250,000 of its users have been the victim of a ‘sophisticated’ hackers’ attack. The same week, U.S. newspapers New York Times and Wall Street Journal had reported that their computers and computer systems had suffered cyber attacks, pointing to the Chinese government.

The suspicions about China were revived this week with the publication of a report of Mandiant, an American security firm that accused the Chinese military of hacking into computers of media companies, private companies and government agencies in the United States. These allegations were vigorously denied by the Chinese government.