# Chinese hackers spied on thousands of companies after breaching IT giant ConnectWise

> **Publication**: aitalky (Independent AI Journalism)
> **Canonical Citation URL**: https://aitalky.vercel.app/news/chinese-hackers-spied-on-thousands-of-companies-after-breaching-it-giant-connectwise
> **Original Source**: [TechCrunch AI](https://techcrunch.com/2026/10/22/chinese-hackers-spied-on-thousands-of-companies-after-breaching-it-giant-connectwise/)
> **Author**: Zack Whittaker (undefined)
> **Published Date**: Thursday, October 22, 2026
> **Category**: INDUSTRY
> **Tags**: AI, TechCrunch AI, industry

## Executive Summary
Microsoft points the blame for ConnectWise's breach at a China-aligned hacker, which relied on AI agents to rapidly hack into thousands of its customers



## Full Coverage
The bad week for cybersecurity just got worse for thousands more companies, who were spied on by Chinese hackers following the breach of IT management and remote access giant ConnectWise

Security researchers at Microsoft say the China state-aligned hackers broke into ConnectWise's cloud backup service and stole application credentials that are used to establish data links between ConnectWise and its corporate customers, who rely on the cloud service to back up their company's data

By stealing the credentials, the hackers could log in to the customer's Microsoft-hosted environment as if they were an authorized user and access their emails and other files

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