Microsoft: Russian hacks often accompany Ukraine attacks

By FRANK BAJAK
Associated Press

BOSTON (AP) — Microsoft says cyberattacks by state-backed Russian hackers have destroyed data across dozens of organizations in Ukraine and produced a “chaotic information environment.” The company said in a report released Wednesday that Russia-aligned threat groups were preparing long before the Feb. 24 invasion. It said they were “pre-positioning for the conflict” as early as a year ago, hacking into networks to obtain footholds they could later use to collect “strategic and battlefield intelligence or to facilitate future destructive attacks.”