Tuesday, March 9, 2021

Vulnerabilities in Microsoft Exchange Server

Brian Krebs (via Hacker News):

At least 30,000 organizations across the United States — including a significant number of small businesses, towns, cities and local governments — have over the past few days been hacked by an unusually aggressive Chinese cyber espionage unit that’s focused on stealing email from victim organizations, multiple sources tell KrebsOnSecurity. The espionage group is exploiting four newly-discovered flaws in Microsoft Exchange Server email software, and has seeded hundreds of thousands of victim organizations worldwide with tools that give the attackers total, remote control over affected systems.

Nick Heer:

Thumbing through that spreadsheet is informative. You will see exploits targeting software and firmware from Apple, Google, Mozilla, and Adobe — especially Adobe. But the number of vulnerabilities in Microsoft’s products that are being used in the wild stands head and shoulders above all other vendors. That is alarming but it is also unsurprising: organizations large and small use Microsoft’s productivity and server products; perhaps more importantly, these products are used by governments at all levels with no great alternatives.

Previously:

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> small use Microsoft’s productivity and server products; perhaps more importantly, these products are used by governments at all levels with no great alternatives

The (FOSS) alternatives are certainly not "great", but significantly better.


Indeed; in most cases it's the difference between being able to use Outlook for everything, and having to use some web interface somewhere for certain purposes. That's why Exchange wins; it's not about technical excellence but integration. People just want to use Outlook and all its features for convenience.

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