Chinese hackers stole 60,000 emails from US State Department in Microsoft hack, Senate staffer says

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Chinese hackers who infiltrated Microsoft’s email platform earlier this year have succeeded in stealing tens of thousands of emails from U.S. State Department accounts, according to a Senate staffer who spoke to Reuters on Wednesday.

The staffer, who attended a briefing led by State Department IT officials earlier in the day, disclosed that lawmakers were informed that a total of 60,000 emails were compromised from 10 separate State Department accounts. The victims were not named, except for one individual, with the majority working on matters related to East Asia and the Pacific region, the staffer revealed. To protect his identity, the staffer requested to remain anonymous.

The U.S. State Department did not provide an immediate response to a request for comment.

(Reporting by Raphael Satter; Editing by Leslie Adler)