Microsoft attributes the coordinated attack, which was first observed in May, to a group called Nobelium, the same state-sponsored Russian hackers who used sophisticated intrusion techniques in 2020 to infect customers of Texas-based software company SolarWinds Corp. with malware. More than 140 technology service providers and resellers have been notified as recent targets of the hackers and 14 of them are believed to have been compromised, Microsoft said in a blog on Monday.
Nobelium was also behind an attack on IT companies, governments, think tanks and financial service entities earlier this year that spanned 36 countries, Microsoft announced in June.
Microsoft’s disclosure comes amid an effort by the Biden administration to curb cyber attacks, particularly ransomware, after a series of particularly disruptive hacks, including one on Colonial Pipeline Co. in May that squeezed fuel supplies along the East Coast. In ransomware attacks, hackers encrypt a victim’s files and then demand payment to unlock them. Many of the most notorious ransomware gangs have ties to Russia, which has been accused of providing them with safe haven.
Russian state-sponsored hackers, meanwhile, have for years engaged in espionage and attacks, including hacks of Democratic Party officials ahead of the 2016 presidential election. In the case of SolarWinds, Russian hackers installed malware in updates to popular SolarWinds’ software, creating a digital backdoor for the hackers to launch further attacks.
In all, nine U.S. agencies and 100 companies were targeted for further infiltration. In April, the U.S. imposed sanctions against 32 entities and individuals and six Russian companies for alleged misconduct including the SolarWinds attack.
In June, U.S. President Joe Biden said he gave Russian President Vladimir Putin a list of 16 critical sectors that shouldn’t be hacked to deter a cyber response from the U.S. government, but the attacks have continued. The Kremlin, for its part, has repeatedly denied responsibility for any hacking attacks.
The attacks described in the Microsoft blog were unsophisticated operations attempted daily by Russia and other foreign governments. The attackers weren’t attempting to exploit any flaws or vulnerabilities in software but instead using “well-known” techniques to steal credentials, the blog said.
Between July and October this year, “we informed 609 customers that they had been attacked 22,868 times by Nobelium, with a success rate in the low single digits,” Microsoft Corporate Vice President of Customer Security and Trust Tom Burt wrote.
The Redmond, Washington-based company said this activity was another indicator that “Russia is trying to gain long-term, systematic access to a variety of points in the technology supply chain, and establish a mechanism for surveilling — now or in the future — targets of interest to the Russian government.”
Charles Carmakal, senior vice president at the cybersecurity firm Mandiant, which has also tracked the Russian hackers, said that similar to the SolarWinds attack, “The targets of this intrusion activity appear to ultimately be government organizations and other organizations that deal in matters of interest to Russia.”
Carmakal said the technique used by the hackers is exceedingly difficult to detect and investigate. “We know for sure we aren’t seeing everything,” he said.
The White House, which issued an executive order in May this year urging the private sector to bolster its cyber defenses, said it was increasing its intelligence sharing and other measures to protect against cyber threats.
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