Microsoft Didn't Warn Victims of Chinese Email Hack, Say Former Employees

Microsoft experts concluded several years ago that Chinese authorities had hacked into more than a thousand Hotmail email accounts, targeting international leaders of China's Tibetan and Uighur minorities in particular - but it decided not to tell the victims, allowing the hackers to continue their campaign, according to former employees of the company.

On Wednesday, after a series of requests for comment from Reuters, Microsoft said it will change its policy and in the future tell its email customers when it suspects there has been a government hacking attempt.

The company also confirmed for the first time that it had not called, emailed or otherwise told the Hotmail users that their electronic correspondence had been collected. The company declined to say what role the exposure of the Hotmail campaign played in its decision to make the policy shift.

The first public signal of the attacks came in May 2011, though no direct link was immediately made with the Chinese authorities. That's when security firm Trend Micro announced it had found an email sent to someone in Taiwan that contained a miniature computer program.

http://gadgets.ndtv.com/internet/ne...hinese-email-hack-say-former-employees-784259

 

What a bad practice! Privacy should always be respected unless it is for security reasons.

 

Yeah, it makes one wonder what other things they haven't told us about, I'm more and more suspicious of Microsoft, if I could I'd surely avoid it at all costs, but i don't want to risk it with Linux (haven't crossed that line yet).