The dust just settled on the Colonial Pipeline cyberattack that shut down a primary East Coast pipeline and now new details are emerging about another big one that struck this week.
Microsoft announced that a Russian hacking group called Nobelium that was behind the huge SolarWinds hack in 2020 struck again. This time they hit 3,000 email accounts and 150 government agencies in the U.S. and other countries.
Of the 24 total countries hit, the U.S. was on the receiving end of them most Microsoft said.
“At least a quarter of the targeted organizations were involved in international development, humanitarian, and human rights work…These attacks appear to be a continuation of multiple efforts by Nobelium to target government agencies involved in foreign policy as part of intelligence gathering efforts.”
The cyberattack hackers went with a tactic that’s known as “phishing.” This is when the terrorists send emails that are formatted to look just like a normal email, but instead it is loaded with malicious links that unleash the attack.
According to people in the know, the message on the email seemed legit, reading “USAID Special Alert: Donald Trump has published new documents on election fraud.”
Here’s another thing Microsoft said. Expect a lot more of these attacks.
“We need clear rules governing nation-state conduct in cyberspace and clear expectations of the consequences for violation of those rules. …Microsoft will continue to work with willing governments and the private sector to advance the cause of digital peace.”
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