Russia Maintains its Sights on Ukraine
Russia Maintains its Sights on Ukraine
Russia continues to apply pressure on Ukraine through various cyber operations, including disruptive attacks, espionage campaigns, and the dissemination of misinformation. Additionally, destructive data-wiping attacks have been observed. A first-quarter report released by Google’s Threat Analysis Group (TAG) focuses on campaigns initiated by the Russian threat group APT28. "In the first quarter of 2023, Russian government-backed phishing campaigns targeted users in Ukraine, with the country accounting for over 60% of observed Russian targeting," said Google TAG. With its vast array of capabilities, APT28 is focused on targeting industries in "government, defense, energy, transportation/logistics, education and humanitarian" for cyberespionage operations. Google TAG observed the actors distributing phishing links through emails and SMS to distribute information-stealing malware. Users on Telegram were also targeted to obtain their account credentials, and "users following pro-Russia channels," were also in the scope of the attack.