The cyberattack was discovered and described by Unit 42, which was first attempted by a hacker group known as “Cloaked Ursa”, known for its attacks on diplomats around the world. Experts write that cybercriminals act on behalf of the Russian intelligence service SWR (Foreign Intelligence Service of the Russian Federation) and use the phishing method for fraud. The group had already tried to deceive foreign dignitaries by supplying them with e.g. fabricated diplomatic notes and invitations to events for government officials.
Russian hackers attacked diplomats in Kiev. They stole a Pole’s advertisement
Now the “Masked Ursa” has targeted diplomats from at least 22 embassies located in Ukraine. An advertisement for the sale of a used car in Kiev, prepared in English, was used in the attack. A 12-year-old BMW 5 with a 2.0-liter 184-horsepower engine was just bait that was sent to potential victims working in the Ukrainian capital. Malware is hidden inside the ad details file, which, when opened, is designed to infect your computer.
The goal of the hackers – as you can suspect – was to steal sensitive data that may be on the computers of diplomats operating in Kiev. However, it is not clear whether the scammers actually managed to infect any computers, as none of them responded to a Reuters request for comment. A US State Department spokesman confirmed to the agency that the US embassy had not received a phishing email.
Interestingly, both the car and the ad used by the hackers are real. The car belongs to an unknown Polish diplomat who works at the embassy of our country in Kiev. He told Reuters, on condition of anonymity, that he had actually tried to sell his BMW in Kiev, and had sent the advertisement to various people from other embassies in the Ukrainian capital. Most likely, the Russians managed to intercept one of these messages and use it for their purposes. The Pole admitted that he still intends to sell his BMW, but he will probably try to do it in Poland, because after this situation he “does not want to have any more problems”.
Source: Gazeta
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