The 16th of August, Cyber News

Ukraine

Before the Invasion, russian Hackers Attacked the Government Center of Ukraine – Microsoft

The American company Microsoft said that a few months before the full-scale invasion of the russian federation into Ukraine, the russian hacker group SEABORGIUM carried out attacks on the Ukrainian government sector.

“SEABORGIUM is aimed primarily at NATO countries, in particular the USA and Great Britain, sometimes at the Baltic countries, Northern Europe and Eastern Europe. Such attacks also covered the government sector of Ukraine a few months before the russian invasion. Microsoft believes that Ukraine is probably not the main destination for this player; however, most likely, it is one of many goals,” the company said.

It is noted that in the above-mentioned countries, the russian hacking group focused its attacks, in particular, on consulting companies in the field of defense and intelligence, non-governmental organizations, analytical centers and universities.

“SEABORGIUM was also observed to be ‘targeting’ former intelligence officers, russia experts and russian citizens abroad. Microsoft is directly notifying its targeted customers (hackers – ed.), providing them with the information they need to protect their accounts,” the company added.

Microsoft emphasized that SEABORGIUM’s ongoing campaigns are primarily aimed at phishing and stealing user ¹

russia

russian Hackers Say They Stole 9GB of “Secret” Data from the Maker of HIMARS

The head of Killnet told the russian media that the hacker group managed to hack the website of the Lockheed Martin company, which works in the field of the US defense industry.

The hacker said that the Killnet group managed to obtain some Lockheed Martin data. Thus, the group boasted that it had uploaded a database with the telephone numbers and e-mail addresses of some employees of the American company. russian hackers even made a video presentation in which they showed a table with information and photos of people who allegedly work for Lockheed Martin. This publication was shared by many pro-russian publics in various social networks, including Twitter.

Louise Ferrett, an American cyber threat analyst with Searchlight Security, is not sure about the value of the demonstrated database. According to her, these data do not necessarily mean that the company was hacked, because they can be found in open sources.

The founder of the russian hacking group Killnet says he has 9 GB of “various information”.

“The most important thing we got is cooperation with the NASA space corporation. Lockheed Martin has been closely cooperating with the NASA satellite system for more than 10 years,” the hacker clarified.²

The IT Army Blocked More than 600 Online Resources in Two Weeks

From August 1 to 14, the IT army blocked:

Online resources of the Post of russia. A powerful cyber attack completely paralyzed the work of the national postal operator of the russian federation. It was impossible to use postal services, send or receive a package, etc. The cyberattack paralyzed the work of the state post office and prevented revenue that could supplement the country’s budget and produce another enemy missile.
Pension Fund of the russian federation. Due to cyberattacks, military families did not receive payments and compensation for their dead or alive killers who participated in the war against Ukraine.
Online banking. Clients of many russian banks could not carry out the desired financial transactions from a smartphone.
Platforms for video conferences. After the withdrawal of global companies from the russian market, including platforms for video communication, the russians were left with nothing, and therefore created their own analogues. However, the IT army also blocked access for video conferences, which did not work successfully. ³

Hackers Launched a Video on rosTV in which putin Mourns over a “wadding” in the Crimea

Hackers hacked cable television in russia’s Altai Territory. They showed how President vladimir putin is sad because of “wadding” in Novofedorovka.

During putin’s speech, the statistics of the real number of dead russian soldiers in the war with Ukraine appeared on TV screens. These shots were seen by the audience of the propaganda channels “Pervyi Kanal” and “rossii 1”.

In his speech, the russian president “reacted” to the “tragedy” in the Crimean Novofedorovka that happened recently.

“The whole country is grieving,” Putin said.

At that moment, the soundtrack from the film “Requiem for a Dream” began to play, and footage of the destroyed military equipment of the occupiers in Ukraine appeared on the screens.

In addition, the audience was shown the real statistics of the losses of the russian armed forces during the six months of the war: more than 400 aviation units and thousands of soldiers.

The video footage immediately spread on social networks.⁴

World

The US is Offering a $10 Million Reward for Information on russian Cybercriminals

The Rewards for Justice mission has published targeting one of the hackers of the pro-russian group that created the Conti virus. A large reward is offered for information about him or any other of the five key members of the gang.

There is no information that the authors of Conti are supported by the kremlin. But these hackers repeatedly supported ussian policy. Many of the gang’s members are believed to be based in russia or countries close to it — at least because of the region’s lack of cybersecurity controls.

Rewards for Justice, an organization dedicated to catching criminals against US national security, has released data on five key members of the group.

Little is known about four of them. No real names, no photos, no age, just nicknames. These people are known in the network as Reshaev, Professor, Tramp, Dandis.

The fifth member of the group is hiding under the nickname Target. Investigators of the US State Department posted his photo — the photo shows a middle-aged man in a white overalls with a red star. ⁵