"New York Times": Russian hackers penetrate networks of human rights organizations

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Photo: Andrew Brookes / imago images / Westend61

Hackers have apparently gained access to an e-mail server that human rights groups use as a contact point at the US State Department.

This is what the "New York Times" currently reports on its website.

In this way, the criminals with ties to the Russian secret service would have gained access to the internal networks of organizations that are considered critical of the Kremlin.

The slump comes to light three weeks before US President Joe Biden and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin meet in Geneva - at a time when tensions between the two states are already very high.

And not least because Russia is suspected of covering the USA with increasingly sophisticated hacker attacks.

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According to information from the "NYT", this also includes the attack that has now become known.

The hackers then broke into the computers of the US State Department via a supplier's computer systems and, disguised as employees, sent more than 3,000 e-mails to around 150 organizations.

The camouflage was perfect because the human rights defenders concerned are regularly informed about international developments by e-mail from these offices.

If the e-mails were opened, an attached program went into action, which gave the hackers unrestricted access to the internal networks of the organizations, as Microsoft Vice President Tom Burt announced on Tuesday.

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