The Russian government has announced that 20 different bodies within Russia, many of them government agencies, have been found with espionage malware lurking in their networks
The Russian government has been hacked, according to the state security agency, the FSB.
Malware was discovered on the systems of 20 organisations within Russia including several state agencies. Defence companies, scientific and military institutions and “critical infrastructures” were also compromised.
The FSB called it a cyber-spying virus and described the operation as “professionally planned and executed”. The virus has apparently been seen before in other cyber-espionage campaigns.
In a predictable pattern, it was delivered via a malicious email attachment. It also came with all of the features one might expect of espionage malware including the ability to grab screenshots, log keys, turn on webcams and microphones and intercept network traffic.
A source told TASS, a Russian state-run news outlet, “The newest sets of the said software are made individually for every ‘victim,’ on the basis of unique features of attacked machines.”
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“In a word, unsurprising”, Ewan Lawson, an expert in cyber-warfare and fellow at the Royal United Services Institute told SCMagazineUK.com.
He added, in the great game, this is par for the course: “There is little doubt that western agencies, the Chinese and others will wish to access Russian data for intelligence purposes.”
Full article: Russian government admits agencies were hacked (SC Magazine UK)
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