City
Epaper

Russian hackers piggybacked on Iranian groups to attack others

By IANS | Published: October 21, 2019 1:24 PM

In a bizarre case of cyberattacks, Russian hackers first targeted Iran-based groups and acquired their tools and infrastructure to conduct attacks on dozens of countries, security officials in the UK and US revealed on Monday.

Open in App

Advisories published by the UK's National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) and US National Security Agency (NSA) have shown that the group targeted victims and adopted techniques used by suspected Iran-based hacking groups.

The attacks against more than 35 countries would appear to the victims to be Iranian in origin, but the investigation revealed that this was not the case.

Victims saw documents extracted from various sectors, including governments.

Majority of the victims were based in the Middle East, the investigation found.

The Russian group, known as "Turla", used implants derived from the suspected Iran-based hacking groups' previous campaigns, "Neuron' and "Nautilus".

In order to acquire these tools and access the infrastructure, Turla also compromised the Iran-based hacking groups themselves.

"Identifying those responsible for attacks can be very difficult, but the weight of evidence points towards the Turla group being behind this campaign," Paul Chichester, NCSC's Director of Operations, said in a statement.

"We want to send a clear message that even when cyber actors seek to mask their identity, our capabilities will ultimately identify them.

"Turla acquired access to Iranian tools and the ability to identify and exploit them to further their own aims," Chichester said.

Turla regularly collects information by targeting government, military, technology, energy and commercial organisations, NCSC said.

( With inputs from IANS )

Tags: TurlaNcscukNational Cyber Security Centre
Open in App

Related Stories

InternationalLondon Stabbing: 13-Year-Old Boy Killed, Four Injured in Sword Attack Near Tube Station

InternationalLondon Stabbing: Several Stabbed, Including Two Police Officers Near Hainault Tube Station; Scary Video of Man With Sword Goes Viral

InternationalLondon: Overseas Friends of Bjp UK Organises Spectacular ‘Run for Modi’ Event

InternationalUkraine Names Former Commander-in-Chief As New Ambassador to UK

InternationalLondon Fire: Huge Blaze Rips Through Residential Building in South Kensington; 11 Hospitalised (Watch Video)

International Realted Stories

InternationalPakistan: Journalist killed by unidentified assailants in Punjab province

InternationalSir Philip Barton, Vinay Kwatra review progress made on India-UK 2030 Roadmap

InternationalIndia to attend SCO Council of Foreign Ministers meeting in Astana on May 21

InternationalIndia sees Chabahar Port as connectivity hub for Afghanistan, Central Asian countries: MEA

InternationalPakistan Punjab's CM Maryam Nawaz dons police uniform again