Microsoft Takes Down Major Cybercrime Operation, Thwarts Fraudulent Account Sales

Microsoft has successfully disrupted a cybercrime operation known as Storm-1152, which sold fraudulent Outlook accounts to other hackers, including the notorious Scattered Spider gang. Storm-1152 created and sold approximately 750 million fraudulent Microsoft accounts, earning millions of dollars in illicit revenue and causing significant damage to Microsoft. The operation used internet bots to deceive Microsoft's security systems and sold the fraudulent accounts to cybercriminals. Microsoft obtained a court order to seize Storm-1152's infrastructure and domains, including hotmailbox.me, and identified the individuals behind the operation, who are based in Vietnam. The takedown was assisted by cybersecurity company Arkose Labs.