Russian hackers have recently tried to infiltrate the military forces of NATO and some Eastern European countries, Google’s Threat Analysis Group said in a report released on Wednesday.
The report did not say which military was targeted in what Google described as a “certificate phishing campaign” launched by a Russian-based group called ColdDriver or Callisto.
“These campaigns were sent to non-Google accounts using the newly created Gmail account, so the success rate of this campaign is unknown,” the report said.
NATO was not immediately available for comment.
Russia, which is now subject to heavy Western economic sanctions, has consistently denied allegations of cyber-attacks on Western targets since its decision to invade Ukraine on 24 February.
In 2019, Finnish cybersecurity firm F-Secure Labs described Callisto as an “unknown and advanced threat actor” in Europe, “interested in gathering intelligence related to foreign and security policy.”
The group also targeted a NATO Center of Excellence, according to a Google report on Wednesday, without elaborating.
In a statement, the Center did not directly address Google’s report, but said: “We see malicious cyber activity every day.”
Thomson Reuters 2022