Hackers from Russia tried to hack pro-Ukrainian accounts on WhatsApp – Microsoft

Hackers from the Star Blizzard group, allegedly linked to the FSB, tried to hack WhatsApp accounts of employees of organizations and institutions that are pro-Ukrainian.

This happened at the end of last year, Ukrinform reports with reference to Microsoft.

“Star Blizzard's targets are usually related to government and diplomacy (both former and current officials), defense policy, or international relations researchers whose work concerns Russia and assistance to Ukraine”, – the report says publications.

The attackers sent phishing messages, using which they tried to gain access to the history of correspondence in the WhatsApp messenger and personal data. In these letters, allegedly on behalf of an American official, the recipients were invited to join a WhatsApp group “to receive information about initiatives to help Ukraine”.

It is noted that earlier Microsoft, together with authorized US authorities, had already closed about 180 sites related to Star Blizzard.

“However, they quickly switched to other domains and continued their activities, which indicates the significant resistance of these attackers to operational interference”, – Microsoft emphasized.

The company did not specify whether Russian hackers still managed to gain unauthorized access to accounts.