Microsoft seizes 42 US-based websites run by Chinese hacking group

A Virginia federal court granted Microsoft’s request to seize 42 U.S.-based websites run by a Chinese hacking group, The New York Times reports. Microsoft, which has been tracking the hacker group known as Nickel since 2016, is redirecting the websites’ traffic to secure Microsoft servers to “protect existing and future victims.” Microsoft’s Corporate Vice President of Customer Security and Trust Tom Burt said Nickel targeted organizations in 29 countries, using collected data “for intelligence gathering from government agencies, think tanks, universities and human rights organizations.”