BRIEF-Microsoft President's blog on need for strong and global cybersecurity response

Microsoft Corp President Brad Smith: * "LATEST CYBER-ASSAULT IS EFFECTIVELY AN ATTACK ON THE UNITED STATES AND ITS GOVERNMENT AND OTHER CRITICAL INSTITUTIONS"

* ATTACK REPRESENTS A BROAD ESPIONAGE-BASED "ASSAULT" ON CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION OF U.S. GOVERNMENT AND TECH TOOLS USED BY FIRMS * ATTACK ONGOING, BEING ACTIVELY PROBED AND ADDRESSED BY CYBERSECURITY TEAMS IN PUBLIC AND PRIVATE SECTORS, INCLUDING MICROSOFT

* MICROSOFT HAS IDENTIFIED AND HAS BEEN WORKING THIS WEEK TO NOTIFY MORE THAN 40 CUSTOMERS THAT THE ATTACKERS TARGETED * ROUGHLY 80% OF IMPACTED CUSTOMERS ARE LOCATED IN U.S., THIS WORK SO FAR HAS ALSO IDENTIFIED VICTIMS IN SEVEN ADDITIONAL COUNTRIES

* INITIAL LIST OF VICTIMS INCLUDES NOT ONLY GOVERNMENT AGENCIES, BUT SECURITY AND OTHER TECHNOLOGY FIRMS & NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS Source: https://bit.ly/3r8ZD7V Further company coverage: