Microsoft engineer Andres Freund found the trap by chance on social network Mastodon. Freund discovered the dark work of a state intelligence agency for more than two years.
The attack was a so-called supply chain attack, which affects the software that supports the most well-known and common programs. If it had not been detected, this software would have been deployed on millions of servers and given privileged access to machines around the world. The case reveals both a success and a hole in the community that maintains much of the digital infrastructure.