Russia’s intelligence service, the FSB, has said that the Russian government was hit with a “professional” cyber attack.
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File names, infection methods and other key characteristics match up with other high-profile cyber espionage campaigns and attacks are highly targeted “based on the unique characteristics of the targeted PC”, it continued.
The operation has been “professionally planned and executed”, with public sector bodies, scientific and military institutions, defense contractors, and other CNI firms affected, according to the Federal Security Service (FSB).
FSB jointly with ministries and authorities finalized measures to reveal all the “victims” in the Russian Federation and to minimize negative consequences incurred by the harmful software.
The malware reportedly allowed the sender to intercept data traffic, eavesdrop on phone calls, take screenshots, switch on microphones and log keystrokes.
The attack is reminiscent of the phishing hacks that target USA federal agencies and corporations every day.
FSB’s announcement came when the USA is in turmoil following two separate cyber-incidents at the Democratic Party, the party of United States presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.
First there came news that the Democratic National Committee (DNC) was hacked, then news about a similar incident at the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), the group managing Clinton’s campaign donations site.
Russian officials said the malware penetrated their network masked as email attachments and was designed for cyber-espionage.
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Before joining FCW, Rockwell was Washington correspondent for Government Security News, where he covered all aspects of homeland security from IT to detection dogs and border security.
