the software company microsoft reported in august 2018 that the group had attempted to steal data from political organizations such as the international republican institute and the hudson institute think tanks. the attacks were thwarted when microsoft security staff won control of six net domains. in its announcement microsoft advised that "we currently have no evidence these domains were used in any successful attacks before the dcu transferred control of them, nor do we have evidence to indicate the identity of the ultimate targets of any planned attack involving these domains".