Getty Images Microsoft President Brad Smith listens during the Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, February 23, 2021. Synopsis In addition to tens of thousands of reported victims in the US, governments around the world have been compromised, too. According to the security firm ESET, at least 10 hacking groups, most of them government-backed cyber-espionage teams, have exploited the vulnerabilities on thousands of servers in over 115 countries. By Patrick Howell O’NeillAt first the Chinese hackers ran a careful campaign. For two months, they exploited weaknesses in Microsoft Exchange email servers, picked their targets carefully, and stealthily stole entire mailboxes. When investigators eventually caught on, it looked like typical online espionage—but then things accelerated dramatically.Around February 26, the narrow operation turned into something much bigger and much more chaotic.