Russian hackers now under attack — from Microsoft

Microsoft is going after Fancy Bear, the Russian hacking group that targeted the DNC, by wresting control of domain names controlled by the foreign spies. This new offensive by Microsoft has been control-alt-deleting segments of the Russian hacking apparatus, reports The Daily Beast.

Microsoft’s approach is indirect but effective. Rather than getting physical custody of the servers, which Fancy Bear rents from data centers around the world, Microsoft has been taking over the Internet domain names that route to them. These are addresses like “livemicrosoft[.]net” or “rsshotmail[.]com” that Fancy Bear registers under aliases for about $10 each.  Once under Microsoft’s control, the domains get redirected from Russia’s servers to the company’s, cutting off the hackers from their victims, and giving Microsoft an omniscient view of that servers’ network of automated spies.