Suspected cyberspies working for Russia’s foreign intelligence service (SVR) are targeting NATO countries in a recent hacking campaign, according to a new industry report.
Cybersecurity firm Palo Alto said hackers are using online storage services like Google Drive and Dropbox to avoid detection.
Attack attempts have included phishing emails containing agendas for an upcoming meeting with an ambassador to solicit and be sent to a number of Westerners and NATO diplomatic missions from May to June this year.
A Dropbox spokesperson told Sky News: “We can confirm that we’ve been working with industry partners and researchers on this issue, and disabled user accounts immediately. ie.”
Palo Alto judged that the attackers were part of the same organization to be blamed SolarWinds breach in 2020 which one gave? RussiaTheir spies accessed the networks of at least nine US government agencies.
The success of that espionage — which was only discovered when the hackers also decided to steal tools from the American cybersecurity company Mandiant — led to a significant response from American authorities.
It led to the US announcing new sanctions against Russia and its officials, although a Russian government spokesman repeatedly denied being blamed.
At the time, Microsoft president Brad Smith called the supply chain attack “the largest and most sophisticated attack the world has ever seen,” although some commentators have criticized this description. .
Unlike hacking groups affiliated with the GRU, Russia’s military intelligence agency, SVR is considered to conduct more covert operations.
The US Cybersecurity Infrastructure Agency says that SVR hackers have “shown patience, operational security, and sophisticated engineering” in previous attacks.
When GRU hackers were found to have infiltrated the Democratic National Committee after the 2016 US election, researchers discovered that SVR was also present on those networks – and was indeed there. been a year.
The two organizations appear to be unaware of each other’s efforts.
Some of the emails soliciting scams are said to be from the Portuguese Embassy. Photo: Palo Alto
The recent espionage efforts come as the NATO alliance prepares to welcome two new members in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
In June, the alliance confirmed that Sweden and Finland would Officially invited to join simultaneously with the announcement of a “new strategic concept”.
Setting out a blueprint for threats and challenges, NATO promised to “defend every inch” of its territory as it mapped out a “deterrence and defense posture” based on a combination of ” nuclear, conventional and missile defense capabilities”.
