Google has reported seeing a high level of activity by Russian and Belarusian hackers on Ukrainian digital networks in recent weeks. Reporting from Reuters, the hackers carried out espionage, phishing campaigns, and other attacks.
In a post on its official blog Monday (7/3), Google's Threat Analysis Group said that over the past two weeks Russian hacking unit FancyBear had been sending phishing emails to Ukrainian media company UkrNet.
The phishing message sent aims to steal information from the party who opened the message. With this method, hackers can penetrate the target computer and online accounts.
Google did not say whether any of the attacks were successful. Meanwhile, Russia denies using hackers to pursue its enemies.
Not only Russia, hackers from Belarus are also suspected of enlivening the Ukrainian digital world. Google reported on the activity of the Ghostwriter/UNC1151 hacker group that tried to steal account credentials through phishing attempts at Polish and Ukrainian government and military organizations.
Last month, Ukrainian cybersecurity officials said Belarusian hackers targeted the personal email addresses of Ukrainian military personnel and other individuals linked to the military agency.
Google also found the activity of the Mustang Panda group, or Temp.Hex, which it identified as being based in China. The hacker group sent messages with virus-laden attachments to European entities with file names such as "The situation on the EU border with Ukraine.zip".
For now, Google is still trying to study Mustang Panda's activities, which so far are known to focus on targets in Southeast Asia.
Since the Russian invasion began last month, Ukraine has openly asked its hacker community to help protect infrastructure and carry out cyber-espionage missions against Russian troops.
