The tech giants have evidence that Chinese hackers are exploiting the new bug, but warned "multiple actors" are also hacking into affected SharePoint systems.

Microsoft Corp. accused Chinese state-sponsored hackers of using flaws in its SharePoint document management software in a hacking campaign that has targeted businesses and government agencies around the world.

US tech giant Microsoft has pointed the finger at China amid a wave of cyberattacks on firms and government agencies worldwide, announcing on Tuesday that it has identified three Chinese hacker groups responsible for the damage so far.

The hackers behind the initial wave of attacks exploiting a zero-day in Microsoft SharePoint servers have so far primarily targeted government organizations, according to researchers and news reports.

A security patch Microsoft released this month failed to fully fix a critical flaw in the U.S. tech giant's SharePoint server software, opening the door to a sweeping global cyber espionage effort, a timeline reviewed by Reuters shows.

Microsoft Corp. advirtió que piratas informáticos están atacando activamente a los clientes de su software de gestión de documentos SharePoint, y los investigadores de seguridad han señalado el riesgo de que se produzcan violaciones de seguridad a gran escala en todo el mundo.

A global attack on Microsoft server software used by thousands of government agencies and businesses to share documents within organisations is likely the work of a single actor, a cybersecurity researcher said on Monday.