Microsoft users will now be notified if a state-sponsored attacker tries to break into their accounts, the company said in a blog post. The announcement comes the same day as a Reuters report that Microsoft did not warn Hotmail users their email accounts had been accessed by a group associated with the Chinese government.
Users will be notified if services they access through Microsoft Account logins, including Outlook.com and OneDrive, have been breached by a government organization or hackers working for governments. The company already notifies users if an unauthorized third-party tries to access their accounts, but Scott Charney, Microsoft corporate vice president of trustworthy computing, wrote that state-sponsored attacks “could be more sophisticated or sustained than attacks from cybercriminals.”
