Microsoft on Monday announced that it had seized 42 websites to collect intelligence from 29 countries’ foreign ministries, think tank and human rights organisations, in order to disrupt the cyber-spying by a Chinese state-supported hacking group. A Virginia Federal Court granted the request by the company to seize domains from Nickel, which is sometimes also called APT15 or Vixen Panda. Microsoft’s Digital Crimes Unit was able to seize US-based sites and redirect visitors to their secure servers. This ‘helps us protect current and future victims, while learning more Nickel’s activities’, the company shared in a press statement. Nickel attacked organizations…