2,250 Customers Targeted Through One Backup Provider's Trusted Access
Attackers attempted sign-ins to more than 2,250 customer environments, Microsoft says. The breach shows how stolen access at one software provider can give intruders a route into many organisations.
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A China-state-aligned hacking group used AI agents to accelerate attacks through breached ConnectWise applications, Microsoft says, exploiting a software provider's trusted access to reach its customers.
Microsoft attributed the supply-chain compromise to Storm-0940, a group it says has been active since 2021. Its October 21 investigation described attempted sign-ins to more than 2,250 Microsoft 365 customer environments, reaching a peak of 2,900 attempts per minute.
ConnectWise, which provides software for IT management and services, confirmed unauthorised access to application credentials associated with Cloud Backup, formerly known as SkyKick. The company said Microsoft's attribution appeared consistent with evidence it had reviewed. Service restoration and the investigation are continuing.
The route into customers was the access they had already granted their backup provider. Microsoft says the attackers gained control of identities used by multiple ConnectWise cloud applications, then used those applications' existing permissions to authenticate to customer environments. In several, Microsoft observed reconnaissance, application credential changes and attempts to alter privileges.
The 2,250 figure measures environments targeted by attempted sign-ins, not confirmed breaches. Microsoft has not given a count of customers whose data was stolen and says that an affected application, or even successful authentication, does not itself establish data access or theft. The initial method used to obtain the ConnectWise credentials and the division of work between human operators and AI agents are not yet established.
