The Microsoft corporation said on Friday that a Russian state-sponsored group hacked into its corporate systems on January 12 and stole some emails and documents from staff accounts.

The Russian group was able to access "a very small percentage" of Microsoft corporate email accounts, including members of its senior leadership team and employees in its cybersecurity, legal, and other functions, the company said, reports Reuters

The company said its probe into the breach indicated the hackers were initially targeting Microsoft to learn what the technology giant knew about their operations.

The company said the hackers used a "password spray attack" starting in November 2023 to breach a Microsoft platform. Hackers use this technique to infiltrate a company's systems by using the same compromised password against multiple related accounts.

Bd-pratidin English/Lutful Hoque