The Attribution Story of WhisperGate: An Academic Perspective

This paper explores the challenges of cyberattack attribution, specifically APTs, applying the case study approach for the WhisperGate cyber operation of January 2022 executed by the Russian military intelligence service GRU and targeting Ukrainian government entities. The study provides a detail...

Russian Military Cyber Actors Target US and Global Critical Infrastructure

Summary The Federal Bureau of Investigation FBI, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency CISA, and National Security Agency NSA assess that cyber actors affiliated with the Russian General Staff Main Intelligence Directorate GRU 161st Specialist Training Center Unit 29155 are responsible...

Russian National Indicted for Cyber Attacks on Ukraine Before 2022 Invasion

A 22-year-old Russian national has been indicted in the U.S. for his alleged role in staging destructive cyber attacks against Ukraine and its allies in the days leading to Russia's full-blown military invasion of Ukraine in early 2022. Amin Timovich Stigal, the defendant in question, is assessed...

Actors, Threats and Vulnerabilities 12 June to 18 June 2023

For a detailed threat digest, download the pdf file here Summary HiveForce Labs recently made several significant discoveries related to cybersecurity threats. Over the past week, the fact that there were a total of seven attacks executed, taking advantage of twenty different vulnerabilities in...

Unveiling Cadet Blizzard APT’s Wiper Attacks Targeting Ukraine

Threat Level Attack Report For a detailed threat advisory, download the pdf file here Summary Cadet Blizzard, a Russian GRU-sponsored threat group, conducted major cyber operations using WhisperGate, a customized wiper malware, to demonstrate their destructive capabilities through targeted attack...

Microsoft Warns of New Russian State-Sponsored Hacker Group with Destructive Intent

Microsoft on Wednesday took the lid off a "novel and distinct Russian threat actor," which it said is linked to the General Staff Main Intelligence Directorate GRU and has a "relatively low success rate." The tech giant's Threat Intelligence team, which was previously tracking the group under its...

Cadet Blizzard emerges as a novel and distinct Russian threat actor

As Russia’s invasion of Ukraine continues into its second year and Microsoft continues to collaborate with global partners in response, the exposure of destructive cyber capabilities and information operations provide greater clarity into the tools and techniques used by Russian state-sponsored...

Russian Hackers Using Graphiron Malware to Steal Data from Ukraine

A Russia-linked threat actor has been observed deploying a new information-stealing malware in cyber attacks targeting Ukraine. Dubbed Graphiron by Broadcom-owned Symantec, the malware is the handiwork of an espionage group known as Nodaria , which is tracked by the Computer Emergency Response Te...

Microsoft Documents Over 200 Cyberattacks by Russia Against Ukraine

At least six different Russia-aligned actors launched no less than 237 cyberattacks against Ukraine from February 23 to April 8, including 38 discrete destructive attacks that irrevocably destroyed files in hundreds of systems across dozens of organizations in the country. "Collectively, the cybe...

Update: Destructive Malware Targeting Organizations in Ukraine

Summary Actions to Take Today: • Set antivirus and antimalware programs to conduct regular scans. • Enable strong spam filters to prevent phishing emails from reaching end users. • Filter network traffic. • Update software. • Require multifactor authentication. Updated April 28, 2022 This advisor...

CISA and FBI Update Advisory on Destructive Malware Targeting Organizations in Ukraine

CISA and the Federal Bureau of Investigation FBI have updated joint Cybersecurity Advisory AA22-057A: Destructive Malware Targeting Organizations in Ukraine, originally released February 26, 2022. The advisory has been updated to include additional indicators of compromise for WhisperGate and...

APT trends report Q1 2022

For five years, the Global Research and Analysis Team GReAT at Kaspersky has been publishing quarterly summaries of advanced persistent threat APT activity. These summaries are based on our threat intelligence research; and they provide a representative snapshot of what we have published and...

Digging into HermeticWiper

Digging into HermeticWiper By Max Kersten · March 2, 2022 A special thanks toMarc Elias for his help during my analysis. Additionally, I’d like to commend all researchers who have publicly shared their initial findings to help incident response teams; I hope this deep dive contributes to a furthe...

Digging into HermeticWiper

Digging into HermeticWiper By Max Kersten · March 2, 2022 A special thanks to Marc Elias for his help during my analysis. Additionally, I’d like to commend all researchers who have publicly shared their initial findings to help incident response teams; I hope this deep dive contributes to a furth...

New Wiper Malware Targeting Ukraine Amid Russia's Military Operation

Cybersecurity firms ESET and Broadcom's Symantec said they discovered a new data wiper malware used in fresh attacks against hundreds of machines in Ukraine, as Russian forces formally launched a full-scale military operation against the country. The Slovak company dubbed the wiper "HermeticWiper...

Ukraine Continues to Face Cyber Espionage Attacks from Russian Hackers

Cybersecurity researchers on Monday said they uncovered evidence of attempted attacks by a Russia-linked hacking operation targeting a Ukrainian entity in July 2021. Broadcom-owned Symantec, in a new report published Monday, attributed the attacks to an actor tracked as Gamaredon aka Shuckworm or...

Experts Find Strategic Similarities b/w NotPetya and WhisperGate Attacks on Ukraine

Latest analysis into the wiper malware that targeted dozens of Ukrainian agencies earlier this month has revealed "strategic similarities" to NotPetya malware that was unleashed against the country's infrastructure and elsewhere in 2017. The malware, dubbed WhisperGate, was discovered by Microsof...

Update on WhisperGate, Destructive Malware Targeting Ukraine – Threat Intelligence & Protections Update

Update on WhisperGate, Destructive Malware Targeting Ukraine – Threat Intelligence & Protections Update By Taylor Mullins, Mo Cashman and Raj Samani · January 20, 2022 Recent news reports of a “ransomware” campaign targeting Ukraine has resulted in significant press coverage regarding not only...

Update on WhisperGate, Destructive Malware Targeting Ukraine – Threat Intelligence & Protections Update

Update on WhisperGate, Destructive Malware Targeting Ukraine – Threat Intelligence & Protections Update By Taylor Mullins, Mo Cashman and Raj Samani · January 20, 2022 Recent news reports of a “ransomware” campaign targeting Ukraine has resulted in significant press coverage regarding not only...

Destructive Wiper Targeting Ukraine Aimed at Eroding Trust

Russia is positioned for a hot-war attack on Ukraine that the Biden administration warned could come “at any point” — but the country is already suffering an attack of a different kind. A sweeping malware campaign remains ongoing, which experts agree is intended to permanently disrupt organizatio...