US officials: Chinese hackers breached unclassified govt email by foiling Microsoft security

U.S. officials say state-backed Chinese hackers foiled Microsoft’s cloud-based security to break into unclassified U.S. government email systems at an unspecified number of agencies including the State Department. The extent of the hack was not immediately clear, but a person familiar with the investigation said U.S. military and intelligence agencies were not among those impacted. Another U.S. official said the State Department discovered the breach. The hack was disclosed late Tuesday by Microsoft in a blog post that blamed a Chinese group “known to target government agencies in Western Europe.” It said access was gained to email accounts at about 25 organizations including government agencies since mid-May.