The suspected Russian hacking campaign that has torn through the U.S. government zeroed in on more than 40 organizations, Microsoft’s president said Thursday.
Microsoft’s statement is the first to provide a detailed estimate of how widespread the hack is. While the company doesn’t have total visibility into the hacking campaign, it has significant insight thanks to governments and corporations’ use of Windows and its antivirus software, Defender.
In a blog post Thursday evening, the company’s president, Brad Smith, said that of the more than 40 organizations it had identified as having been significantly impacted, 80 percent were in the U.S., but there were also victims in Belgium, Canada, Israel, Mexico, Spain, the U.A.E. and the United Kingdom.
While many victims were government agencies, companies that contract with governments or think tanks and information and technology companies were also frequently hit, Microsoft found.