Cyber Threat: US & UK accuse Russian hackers of using VPN & Tor to spy globally

Top security officials of the United States and the United Kingdom have joined hands to combat global cyber security threats. The National Security Agency (NSA), Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) released a Cybersecurity Advisory on 1 July.

In the joint statement, governments have accused the Russian military intelligence of conducting malicious cyber attacks against the U.S. and other global organizations.The presser reveals that the Russia's military spy agency (Unit 26165) had been using several tactics to penetrate into global organizations’ private networks. The report also accuses Russian hackers abusing VPNs (Virtual Private Networks) and Tor (a kind of privacy focused network) to conduct "widespread, distributed, and anonymised brute force access attempts against hundreds of government and private sector targets."

Russian Hackers Used VPN & Tor To Spy: Report


The report details how the Russian General Staff Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU) targeted foreign organizations. The advisory highlights ‘tactics, techniques and procedures (TTP), GTsSS actors' used by the hackers to target several private and public sector networks globally. Supporting the allegation, the report reveals that Russians are using ‘brute force access to penetrate government and private sector victim networks’. Both the governments have accused the Russian hackers of conducting cyberattacks on several organizations, including government offices, military & defence contractors, energy companies, logistics, law firms, media organizations, political parties and political consultants based in the US and Europe from at least mid-2019.The Russian Embassy in Washington has not commented on the issue so far, however, they have always rejected such allegations in the past. 

Russia’s Military Spy Agency’s Involvement In 2016 US Presidential Elections
 

This is not the first instance when Russia was accused by the United States of prying. Earlier, In mid- 2018, Unit 26165 was indicted for interfering in the 2016 U.S. Presidential election. Robert Muller’s investigation revealed Unit 26165’s interference in the presidential election that helped former President Donald Trump's Democratic Party win.

The United States and Britain have stepped up their efforts to develop a safe space for all on the web. They have been calling out countries, including Russia and China for their alleged involvement in hacking and foreign cyber attacks. In the past, India also banned several Chinese apps and accused them of spying and misusing user's private data.


(Image: AP)