Russia Appears to Carry Out Hack Through System Used by U.S. Aid Agency

[riversedge]

Source: nytimes




Microsoft reported that it had detected the intrusion and that the same hackers behind the earlier SolarWinds attack were responsible.


By David E. Sanger and Nicole Perlroth


May 28, 2021 Updated 12:37 p.m. ET

Hackers linked to Russian intelligence surreptitiously seized an email system used by the United States government’s international aid agency to burrow into the computer networks of human rights groups and other organizations of the sort that have been critical of President Vladimir V. Putin, Microsoft Corporation disclosed on Thursday.

Discovery of the breach comes only three weeks before President Biden is scheduled to meet Mr. Putin in Geneva, and at a moment of increased tension between the two nations — in part because of a series of increasingly sophisticated cyberattacks emanating from Russia.

The newly disclosed attack was also particularly bold: By breaching the systems of a supplier used by the federal government, the hackers sent out genuine-looking emails to more than 3,000 accounts across more than 150 organizations that regularly receive communications from the United States Agency for International Development. Those emails went out as recently as this week, and Microsoft said it believes the attacks are ongoing.

The email was implanted with code that would give the hackers unlimited access to the computer systems of the recipients, from “stealing data to infecting other computers on a network,” Tom Burt, a Microsoft vice president, wrote on Thursday night.....................................

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/28/us/politics/russia-hack-usaid.html?campaign_id=60&emc=edit_na_20210528&instance_id=0&nl=breaking-news&ref=headline&regi_id=22098736&segment_id=59252&user_id=8cbf35c306e720c7e6384d1bf32ec141

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A screenshot, with some information redacted by the source, showing an apparent spearphishing email meant to resemble a legitimate email from the United States Agency for International Development.Credit...Microsoft
David E. SangerNicole Perlroth

[abqtommy]

1. The russkies cry and moan about all of our sanctions but then they're asking for more with

these hacking actions. Hypocrites much?

[notinkansas]

2. Current sanctions are clearly not enough.

[Historic NY]

3. I can't believe we can shut down their internet connection to US system and computers.

I can stop those annoying Facebook likes from Russia. If the US can't protect its computers it can't protect the country.