Russia Was Behind Cyber ​​Attack Until Ukraine War, Investigation


Officials in the United States and Ukraine have long believed that Russia was responsible For the cyber-attack on Viasat, but had not officially “linked” the incident to Russia. While US officials drew conclusions long ago, they wanted European countries to take the lead, as the attack had significant repercussions in Europe, but not in the United States.

Statements released on Tuesday avoided naming the specific Russian-backed hacking group that orchestrated the attack; This is an unusual omission, as the US routinely discloses information about certain intelligence services responsible for the attacks, in part to show its visibility to the Russian government. .

“We have continued and will continue to work closely with relevant law enforcement and government officials as part of the ongoing investigation,” said Viasat spokesperson Dan Bleier. Cybersecurity firm Mandiant, hired by Viasat to investigate the matter, declined to comment on its findings.

But researchers at the cybersecurity firm SentinelOne He believed that the Viasat attack was most likely the work of Russia’s military intelligence unit, the GRU. The malware used in the attack, known as AcidRain, shared significant similarities with other malware previously used by the GRU. SentinelOne the researchers said.

Unlike previous malware known as VPNFilter, which was created to destroy certain computer systems, AcidRain was created as a multipurpose tool that could be easily used against a wide variety of targets, the researchers said. In 2018, the Ministry of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation said that Russia was responsible for the creation of its GRU. VPNFilter malware.

SentinelOne’s principal threat researcher, Juan Andres Guerrero-Saade, said the AcidRain malware is “a very generic solution in the scariest sense of the word.” “They can get this tomorrow and AcidRain could come in handy if they want to launch a supply chain attack against routers or modems in the US.”

US officials warned that Russia could launch a cyberattack against US critical infrastructure and urged companies to strengthen their online defenses. The State Department said the United States also assisted Ukraine in detecting and responding to Russian cyberattacks.



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