Microsoft gains control of domains used by Iranian hackers linked to U.S. fugitive

A U.S. court has granted Microsoft the authority to seize domain names in order to take down a phishing campaign run by a notorious group of Iranian hackers.

In a post on Microsoft’s official blog, Customer Security & Trust VP Tom Burt shared details from the now unsealed case it filed in the U.S. District Court for Washington D.C against the hacker group called Phosphorus. The group is also known under the names APT 35, Charming Kitten, and Ajax Security Team.

Microsoft’s Digital Crimes Unit was allowed to take control of 99 domains in order to stop the hackers’ attacks. Domains such as outlook-verify.net, yahoo-verify.net, and verification-live.com were being used in spear-phishing campaigns by the Iranian hackers. Read more...