Chinese hackers stole 60,000 emails from US State Department in Microsoft hack, Senate staffer says

A man holds a laptop computer as cyber code is projected on him in this illustration picture taken on May 13, 2017. REUTERS/Kacper Pempel/Illustration/File photo

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Chinese hackers who subverted Microsoft's email platform earlier this year managed to steal tens of thousands of emails from U.S. State Department accounts, a Senate staffer told Reuters on Wednesday.

The staffer, who attended a briefing of State Department IT officials earlier Wednesday, said the officials told lawmakers that 60,000 emails were stolen from 10 different State Department accounts. Although the victims weren't named, all but one of them was working on East Asia and the Pacific, he said.

The staffer, who works for Senator Eric Schmitt, shared the details of the briefing on condition that he not be identified by name.

The U.S. State Department did not immediately return a message seeking comment.

(Reporting by Raphael Satter; Editing by Leslie Adler)