US Fermilab hit in cyberattack targeting Microsoft’s SharePoint, Bloomberg News reports

(Reuters) -One of the U.S. Department of Energy’s 17 national labs was attacked by hackers as part of a recent campaign seeking to exploit flaws in Microsoft’s SharePoint software, Bloomberg News reported on Tuesday, citing a department spokesperson. 

 

"Attackers did attempt to access Fermilab’s SharePoint servers," a Department of Energy spokesperson told Bloomberg, referring to the U.S. Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory.

 

"The attackers were quickly identified, and the impact was minimal, with no sensitive or classified data accessed," the spokesperson said, adding that Fermilab’s servers are back online and running normally.

 

Microsoft, Fermilab and the U.S. Department of Energy did not immediately respond to Reuters’ requests for comment. 

 

A security patch released by Microsoft last month failed to fully fix a critical flaw in the U.S. tech giant’s SharePoint server software that had been identified in May, opening the door to a sweeping global cyber espionage operation.

 

Fermilab, established in 1967, is "America’s particle physics and accelerator laboratory," according to its website.

 

Last week, a U.S. Department of Energy spokesperson told Reuters that on July 18 a SharePoint security flaw impacted its systems, including those of the National Nuclear Security Administration, which oversees the nation’s nuclear weapons stockpile.

 

The department had stated that all affected systems were being restored.

 

 (Reporting by Abu Sultan in Bengaluru; Editing by Sandra Maler and Muralikumar Anantharaman)