Russia’s cyber operations against the United States are showing signs of accelerating even as lawmakers grapple with how to deter and respond to the threat. Moscow-linked hackers have expanded to new political targets, including the U.S. Senate, in the wake of the hacking and disinformation campaign during the 2016 presidential race. The hackers, said to have links to Russia’s GRU military intelligence unit, are part of the same group that was implicated in the 2016 hacks of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and Hillary Clinton’s campaign.
The cybersecurity firm Trend Micro revealed last week that the cyber espionage group known as APT 28, “Fancy Bear” or “Pawn Storm” had begun targeting the Senate in June, orchestrating a phishing campaign using fake websites to steal official credentials for the Senate’s email system.
Fancy Bear has been active since the mid-2000s, conducting cyber espionage operations that have been widespread across the globe, with a particular eye to members of NATO.
“By and large, we see global coverage,” said Adam Meyers, vice president of intelligence at CrowdStrike, a cyber firm that tracks a number of Russian state-sponsored cyber groups. “We haven’t really seen them stop or slow down.”
Full Article: Russian hackers move to new political targets | TheHill.