A top national security official said Wednesday that an FBI operation that gave law enforcement remote access to hundreds of computers to fight a major hack of Microsoft Exchange email server software is a tool that will be used “judiciously” in the future as the Justice Department establishes a system for its use, mindful of privacy concerns.
The department revealed earlier this month that it had received a warrant from a federal judge in Texas to remove web shells, or malicious code that allows hackers to gain access to networks, from hundreds of compromised computers affected by a hack blamed on a Chinese group by Microsoft.
The FBI activity was intended to mitigate the effects of a hack that impacted tens of thousands of servers running Microsoft Exchange email program. Several victims took measures to secure their systems on their own, but for those who did not, the Justice Department stepped in with a judge’s permission to do so on their behalf.
It was the equivalent of cops driving around the neighbourhood locking doors that had been unlocked remotely by criminals.