CopyKittens cyber espionage group linked to Iranian state, says report

July 26, 2017 by Leave a comment

CopyKittensA cyber espionage group that has alarmed security researchers by its careful targeting of government agencies has links to the Iranian state, according to a new report. The existence of the group calling itself CopyKittens was first confirmed publicly in November of 2015. Since that time, forensic analyses of cyber attacks against various targets have indicated that the group has been active since at least early 2013. During that time, CopyKittens has carefully targeted agencies or officials working for Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Israel, the United States, and Germany, among other countries. It has also targeted specific offices and officials working for the United Nations.

Throughout its existence, CopyKittens has alarmed cyber security researchers by its strategic focus on political targets belonging to governments. The group’s methods of operation do not resemble those of most other hacker groups, which are usually crude by comparison. Now a new report by two leading cyber security groups claims that CopyKittens is linked to the Iranian state. The report was published on Tuesday as a joint effort by Japan’s Trend Micro and Israel’s ClearSky firms. The report analyzes several operations by CopyKittens, some conducted as recently as last April. It concludes that CopyKittens is “an active cyber espionage actor whose primary focus [is] foreign espionage on strategic targets”. Additionally, the report suggests that the group operates using “Iranian government infrastructure”.

According to the Trend Micro/ClearSky report, CopyKittens tends to use relatively simple hacking techniques, such as fake social media profiles, attacks on websites, or emails that contain attachments that are infected with malicious codes. However, its members appear to be “very persistent” and usually achieve their goal “despite lacking technological sophistication”. The security report did not directly address the political ramifications of implicating the Iranian government in the CopyKittens’ hacking operations. The Reuters news agency contacted Iranian officials at the United Nations about the CopyKittens report, but they nobody was available for comment.

► Author: Ian Allen| Date: 26 July 2017 | Permalink

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Same hacker group is targeting French and German elections, says report

April 26, 2017 by Leave a comment

Konrad Adenauer FoundationThe same group cyber-spies that attacked the campaign of French presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron is now attacking German institutions that are connected to the country’s ruling coalition parties, according to a report by a leading cyber-security firm. The Tokyo-based security software company Trend Micro published a 41-page report on Tuesday, in which it tracks and traces the attacks against French and German political targets over the past two years. The report, entitled From Espionage to Cyber Propaganda: Pawn Storm’s Activities over the Past Two Years, concludes that the hackers are seeking to influence the results of the national elections in the European Union’s two most powerful nations, France and Germany.

The Trend Micro report focuses on a mysterious group that cyber-security experts have dubbed Pawn Storm —otherwise known as Sednit, Fancy Bear, APT28, Sofacy, and STRONTIUM. It says that the group has launched an aggressive phishing campaign against German political institutions, which has intensified in the past two months. The group allegedly set up fake computer servers in Germany and the Ukraine, and used them to try to infiltrate the computer networks of two elite German think-tanks, the Konrad Adenauer Foundation (KAF) and the Friedrich Ebert Foundation (FEF). The KAF is connected with the Christian Democratic Union party, which is led by Germany’s Chancellor, Angela Merkel. The FEF has strong ties with the centrist Social Democratic Party, which is part of Germany’s governing alliance.

The report’s leading author, cyber-security expert Feike Hacquebord, told the Reuters news agency that the hackers were possibly seeking to infiltrate the two think-tanks as a means of gaining access to the two political parties that are connected with them. Some cyber-security experts in Europe and the United States have said that the Russian Main Intelligence Directorate, the country’s military intelligence agency, known as GRU, is behind the cyber-attacks on France, Germany and the United States. But the Trend Micro report did not attempt to place blame on Moscow or any other country for the cyber-attacks. The Kremlin has denied involvement with the alleged hacking operations.

► Author: Ian Allen | Date: 26 April 2017 | Permalink

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