The United States has announced the seizure of 41 Internet domains, which were allegedly used by Russian intelligence agents to try to gain access to the computers and email accounts of Pentagon and State Department employees, reports AFP.
“The Russian government ran this scheme to steal sensitive information from Americans by using seemingly legitimate email accounts to trick victims into revealing their access credentials,” Assistant Attorney General Lisa Monaco said in a statement.
According to the Department of Justice, the domains were used as part of “an ongoing sophisticated spear-phishing campaign” led by the so-called “Callisto Group,” an operational unit within the Federal Intelligence Service’s Center 18 Security Service of Russia (FSB).
Companies based in the United States were targeted
Those targeted include US-based companies, former and current Department of Defense and State Department employees, and Department of Energy personnel.
The Justice Department said Microsoft simultaneously filed a civil action to seize 66 Internet domains allegedly used by the Callisto Group, which the US software giant calls “Star Blizzard.”
Microsoft said that between January 2023 and August 2024, Star Blizzard targeted more than 30 civil society organizations – journalists, think tanks and non-governmental organizations – with spear-phishing campaigns.
Two alleged members of the Callisto Group were indicted by US authorities in December, accused of hacking computer networks in the United States, Britain, other NATO countries and Ukraine. Neither is in police custody, but both are believed to be in Russia.
Source: www.descopera.ro
