Report Offers a Window Into Russian Cyber Espionage Operations

RIA Novosti

October 28, 2014

Russia May Have Hacked US Firm Keeping Classified Military Data: Cybersecurity Company

MOSCOW, October 28 (RIA Novosti) - Skilled Russian hackers, apparently backed by the Russian government, may have been hacking the servers of a US firm keeping classified military data since 2007, cybersecurity company FireEye said Tuesday in a report.

"The activity that we profile in this paper appears to be the work of a skilled team of developers and operators collecting intelligence on defense and geopolitical issues – intelligence that would only be useful to a government," the report says.

"We assess that APT28 [FireEye’s codename for the group] is most likely sponsored by the Russian government," it added.

The paper titled “A Window into Russia’s Cyber Espionage Operations” specified that the principal portion of the hacking activities happens during working hours in Moscow and St. Petersburg. Moreover, the authors of the report claim that part of the malware samples included Russian language settings.

According to the report, the assumed group of hackers had a particular focus on the post-Soviet republic of Georgia and Eastern European nations, as well as European security organizations, including NATO. Thus, FireEye concludes that the nature and scope of hacking activities points to the Russian authorities’ backing of the hacking group.

The United States has repeatedly called China and Russia as the principal cyber threats. China, in turn, has repeatedly denied its involvement in any illegal activities in cyberspace and has complained about US activity on the Chinese Internet.