OAKLAND: Alphabet Inc’s (GOOGL.O) Google said Russian hackers known to law enforcement, including Fancy Bear, have been involved in espionage, phishing and other attacks against Ukraine and its European allies in recent weeks.
The Russian hacking unit FancyBear, also known as APT28, has been sending phishing emails to Ukrainian media for the past two weeks, Google’s threat analysis group, which focuses on disrupting computer hackers and warning users, said in a blog post on Monday. Company UkrNet.
Russia denies using hackers to attack its enemies. Phishing messages are designed to steal account login information from users so that hackers can compromise a target’s computer and online accounts.
Google did not say whether any of the attacks were successful.
Ghostwriter/UNC1151, which Google describes as a Belarusian threat actor, has been trying to steal account credentials through phishing attempts against Polish and Ukrainian government and military organizations.
Ukrainian cybersecurity officials last month had said hackers from neighboring Belarus are targeting the private email addresses of Ukrainian military personnel “and related individuals.”
Google also said Mustang Panda, or Temp.Hex, which the company described as China-based, has been sending virus-laden attachments to “European entities” with file names such as “Situation at the EU borders with Ukraine.zip.”
Google described the effort as a deviation from Mustang Panda’s standard focus on Southeast Asian targets.
Russian and Ukrainian hackers have traded online attacks, such as defacing government websites, since Russia invaded Ukraine last month. Ukraine publicly has called on its hacker community to help protect infrastructure and conduct cyber spying missions against Russian troops. read more
The Russian incursion into Ukraine is the biggest attack on a European state since World War Two.
Russia calls its actions in Ukraine a “special operation” that it says is not designed to occupy territory but to destroy its southern neighbour’s military capabilities and capture what it regards as dangerous nationalists.
