Microsoft Sues North Korea-Linked Hackers for Impersonation (1)

A group of hackers with ties to North Korea targets Microsoft Corp. software users by impersonating the company, according to a lawsuit unsealed Dec. 27 in Virginia federal court.

Thallium has been breaking into Microsoft accounts and stealing sensitive information by misleading users into giving the hackers their usernames and passwords, the complaint says.

Thallium allegedly targets government employees, human rights organizations, university staff members, and others working on nuclear proliferation issues. It sends emails designed to look like messages from legitimate email services like Alphabet Inc.'s Gmail, Yahoo, and Microsoft’s Hotmail, telling targets that there is a problem with ...