Microsoft services hit by massive cyberattack traced to Russian hackers, says CyberCX report

The outage affected millions of users worldwide and was initially believed to be caused by an Islamic group with links in Sudan.

However, CyberCX claimed that Anonymous Sudan is unlikely to be an authentic hacktivist organization and is more likely to have links with the Russian state.

The firm reasoned that the operation to direct huge amounts of traffic to a service would require tens of thousands of dollars, making it unlikely that Anonymous Sudan was a loose collective.

The report suggests that the hackers' goal may have been to drive division in society and disrupt the West.