The US is expressing growing concern over a hack on Microsoft’s Exchange email software that the tech company has blamed on China. “This is an active threat,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said on Friday. “Everyone running these servers – government, private sector, academia – needs to act now to patch them.”

Microsoft said hackers had used its mail server to attack their targets. It is reported that tens of thousands of US organisations may be impacted. The US has long accused the Chinese government of cyber-espionage, something Beijing denies. Ms Psaki told reporters that the White House was “concerned that there are a large number of victims” and said the vulnerabilities found in Microsoft’s servers “could have far reaching impacts”. On Saturday, the US National Security Council said it was “essential that any organisation with a vulnerable server take immediate measures” to determine if they had been targeted.(BBC)…[+]