Microsoft, Oracle, and Cloudflare Partner to Dismantle Cloud Cybercrime Rings

Microsoft's Digital Crimes Unit dismantled a Chinese-language criminal ecosystem that had sent over one billion phishing emails and text messages to more than 75,000 organizations across four countries since January 2026. The criminals hijacked legitimate Microsoft 365 education and nonprofit cloud tenants, which allowed the phishing kits to bypass standard email defenses. The takedown, executed under a US District Court order, seized domains and disabled more than 20,000 accounts tied to the criminal marketplace.

The operation highlighted how criminal groups exploit high-trust cloud infrastructure to scale cyberattacks. The collaboration between Microsoft, Oracle, and Cloudflare underscores the growing need for joint security efforts across major cloud providers to combat sophisticated threats.