Report says Russian hackers haven't eased spying efforts
CTV
The elite Russian state hackers behind last year's massive SolarWinds cyberespionage campaign hardly eased up this year, managing plenty of infiltrations of U.S. and allied government agencies and foreign policy think tanks with consummate craft and stealth, a leading cybersecurity firm reported Monday.
On the anniversary of the public disclosure of the SolarWinds intrusions, Mandiant said the hackers associated with Russia's SVR foreign intelligence agency continued to steal data "relevant to Russian interests" with great effect using novel, stealthy techniques that it detailed in a mostly technical report aimed at helping security professionals stay alert.
It was Mandiant, not the U.S. government, that disclosed SolarWinds.
While the number of government agencies and companies hacked by the SVR was smaller this year than last, when some 100 organizations were breached, assessing the damage is difficult, said Charles Carmakal, Mandiant's chief technical officer. Overall, the impact is quite serious. "The companies that are getting hacked, they are also losing information."
"Not everybody is disclosing the incident(s) because they don't always have to disclose it legally," he said, complicating damage-assessment.
