The Department of Justice used a court order to dismantle ‘hundreds’ of web shells installed using Exchange Server vulnerabilities. (Photo by Roy Rochlin/Getty Images for Leaders) In an unprecedented move, the Department of Justice used a court order to dismantle ‘hundreds’ of web shells installed using Exchange Server vulnerabilities patched by Microsoft six weeks ago. Microsoft claimed a state-sponsored group located in China that it dubbed Hafnium actively exploited the vulnerabilities at the time of the patch. “Todayâs court-authorized removal of the malicious web shells demonstrates the departmentâs commitment to disrupt hacking activity using all of our legal tools, not just prosecutions,” said Assistant Attorney General for National Security John Demers in a statement. âCombined with the private sectorâs and other government agenciesâ efforts to date, including the release of detection tools and patches, we are together showing the strength that public-private partnership brings to our countryâs cybersecurity.”