Cyber experts of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), jointly with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, exposed Russian special services in systematic cyberattacks on messengers of officials, military personnel, politicians, and activists from Ukraine, Europe, and the USA, the SBU reports.
"The goal of these hacks is to gain access to sensitive information of a military, political, and economic nature exchanged by users, as well as to steal their personal data," the Ukrainian special service stated on its Telegram channel on Thursday.
According to the SBU, Russian hackers use various tools and methods for such cyberattacks.
"For instance, to lure out account passwords, the enemy most often uses SMS mailings on behalf of support teams," the agency specifies.
The SBU explains that such actions are masked as the operation of official bots, and the messages themselves arrive in the morning hours when the user is highly vulnerable due to their physical and emotional state.
"The SBU emphasizes that Russian special services and associated hackers attack not only organizations, officials, or public figures, but also personal accounts of Ukrainians," the report notes.
The Ukrainian special service urges citizens to take care of their own cybersecurity and follow basic rules of cyber hygiene.
"Regularly check your active sessions in the messenger and terminate all unknown connections; enable two-factor authentication. Use a complex alphanumeric PIN code; do not transfer confirmation codes, PIN codes, passwords, or account recovery keys to anyone; do not follow suspicious links, even if they came from acquaintances. Their account may already be hacked; do not open files from unknown or questionable chats, especially if you are asked to do so from a computer; do not scan QR codes received from unknown bots or users. Through them, attackers can connect their device to your account," the agency urges.
In case of receiving suspicious messages in messengers, the SBU asks to inform the SBU Cybersecurity Situation Center. Email address: [email protected].
