Google, Russian NGO hackers and NATO structures targeted

Some structures that work for NATO, military and NGOs have ended up in the crosshairs of Russian hackers: this was revealed by a report by Google's Thread Analysis Group (Tag), the division that deals with cyber threats.

Attack attempts have intensified in recent weeks and are the work of the Coldriver-Calisto group, already known since 2019 because it is interested in acquiring information on foreign and security policy across Europe.

Google's division spotted the group's phishing activity targeting military corps in multiple Eastern European countries and a NATO Center of Excellence.

"We have observed a growing number of threat actors using war as bait in phishing and malware campaigns - explains Google's Thread Analysis Group - They come from China, Iran, North Korea and Russia and have used various war-related themes. in Ukraine".

In particular, explain the researchers Coldriver, a Russian-based threat actor sometimes referred to as Calisto, "has launched phishing campaigns targeting several US-based NGOs and think tanks, a Balkan country's military and a defense contractor based in Ukraine ".

For the first time the Tag observed campaigns by this group "targeting the armed forces of several Eastern European countries, as well as a NATO Center of Excellence", at the moment "the success rate of these campaigns is unknown".