More Than 90 Local Governments And States Become Targets For Microsoft SharePoint Vulnerability Exploitation

JAKARTA More than 90 state and local governments have been targeted for attacks exploiting the latest vulnerabilities in Microsoft server software, according to a US group that assists local authorities in dealing with hacking threats.

The Cyber Security Center (CIS), a nonprofit that houses information-sharing groups for state, local, tribal and territorial government entities, does not provide further details about the attack targets. However, they stated that they had not found any evidence that hackers had successfully penetrated the system.

"No confirmed security incidents," said Randy Rose, Vice President of CIS Security and Intelligence Operations, quoted by VOI from Reuters.

A wave of attacks on servers running a vulnerable version of Microsoft SharePoint came this month, sparking widespread concern. According to Dutch-based cybersecurity firm Eye Security, at least 400 victims have been identified. Several US federal government agencies are reported to be among the victims, with new targets being discovered every day.

On Wednesday 30 July, a spokesman for one of 17 national laboratories under the US Department of Energy confirmed that they were also victims.

"The hacker tried to access the SharePoint Fermilab server," the spokesman said, referring to the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory. "The attempt was quickly identified, and the impact was minimal. No sensitive or confidential data were accessed." The incident at Fermilab was first reported by Bloomberg.

Previously, the US Department of Energy stated that the SharePoint security attack affected "a small number" of their systems.