China Blasts U.S. for Alleged Cyber Espionage—Microsoft Exchange Flaws Weaponized Against Defense Firms

Beijing fires back in the escalating cyberwar—accusing Washington of exploiting Microsoft Exchange vulnerabilities to infiltrate its military-industrial complex. Who’s really winning the digital arms race?

Zero-Day Diplomacy

When software bugs become geopolitical tools, even 'patches' can’t fix the trust deficit. The alleged breach targets China’s defense contractors—because nothing says 'free market' like hacking your competition.

Security Theater

While governments trade hacking accusations, Bitcoin just hit another ATH—because decentralized networks don’t care about national borders. Maybe defense budgets should include a 'cyber offense' line item?

This isn’t cybersecurity—it’s cyberpunk capitalism with extra steps.

China is using public hacking claims to pressure Taiwan

In a recent analysis, Wiz.io’s strategic threat intelligence director, Ben Read, observed that Beijing has more frequently used open accusations of hacking to pressure Taiwan and influence global talks on cybersecurity.

At the start of the year, the Chinese government claimed that groups based in Taiwan launched multiple attacks, despite the island’s autonomous governance.

In April, Beijing alleged that three National Security Agency staffers attempted to infiltrate the Harbin Asian Winter Games networks, aiming to harvest extensive personal data. While the U.S. government frequently names and charges alleged Chinese hackers, China has historically held back from publicly accusing American operatives.

SharePoint flaw targets over 90 U.S. agencies

In another development, the Center for Internet Security, a nonprofit that helps state, local, tribal, and territorial governments share cyber threat information, noted this week that a newly disclosed SharePoint vulnerability has drawn the attention of in excess of ninety state and local agencies.

It declined to identify the specific jurisdictions affected.

“None have resulted in confirmed security incidents,” said Randy Rose, the center’s vice president of security operations and intelligence, in an email statement.

This month saw a surge of attacks targeting SharePoint instances with known vulnerabilities, stirring alarm across various government levels.

Dutch cybersecurity firm Eye Security says about 400 organizations may have been hit by the SharePoint attacks. Federal agencies were among the targets, and new cases are surfacing every day.

The U.S. Department of Energy’s Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory was also among the entities flagged by the scans.

According to a lab spokesperson, the intruders attempted to compromise Fermilab’s SharePoint environment but were intercepted promptly, with no confidential or classified information exfiltrated. Initial coverage of the incident appeared via Bloomberg.

The Department of Energy maintains that only a handful of its systems were impacted by the SharePoint flaw.

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