“The current hacking scheme involves setting up a website that looks like the Senate login page. The hackers are hoping that senators and their staff will reach the fake login pages and then type their username and password into the forms.”
In the 21 century, the Internet has emerged as one of the most important battlegrounds, with major governments engaging in low-level cyberwar on a near constant basis. A cybersecurity company, Micro Trend, has found that a Russian hacking group by the name of “Fancy Bear” has been trying to infiltrate US Senate emails.
Micro Trend has not alleged that Fancy Bear is connected to the Russian government. It is against their policy to link governments to hacking groups. However, several other security experts have alleged that Fancy Bear is connected to and funded by the Russian government and specifically to the Main Intelligence Directorate, or “GRU.” The GRU is the intelligence branch of the Russian military.
Unlike known independent hacker groups, Fancy Bear has never sought ransoms or funding from outside parties. Yet the group appears to be very well-funded and has access to seemingly unlimited resources.
While cyber warfare may conjure up images of hackers in dark rooms typing code furiously into black screens with neon green lettering, in practice most hacking is far less glorious. The current hacking scheme involves setting up a website that looks like the Senate login page. The hackers are hoping that senators and their staff will reach the fake login pages and then type their username and password into the forms.
Once the hackers have the usernames and passwords, they’ll be able to log into the email system. There, they might find sensitive data or discover internal vulnerabilities.
Unlike known independent hacker groups, Fancy Bear has never sought ransoms or funding from outside parties. Yet the group appears to be very well-funded and has access to seemingly unlimited resources.
This method is called “spear phishing.” While crude, it has proven effective. The United States has not been the only country targeted. Germany, France, and others have also been targeted by alleged Russian hackers over the past few years. Even Iran, a tepid Russian ally, has been hit by hacking attempts that experts believe were carried out by Russian-linked hacker groups.
It’s not just hacking either. Russians have been pouring money into social media campaigns, fake media websites, and assets. The most important goal for Russian hackers may be to sow discontent.
DNC Hacked in a Similar Fashion During Elections
The Russian group that hacked DNC emails during the 2016 presidential race is believed to have used a similar phishing method to gain access to the DNC’s assets. Cybersecurity experts believe that this hacking group was also Fancy Bear.
So how did the hackers pull it off? Hackers sent out emails, pretending to be from Google, asking users to “reset” their passwords. The hackers also used a malicious link sent to Podesta to hack his personal email account.
The emails were sent in early March of 2016. It wasn’t until the end of March that the FBI and other parties grew wise to the Russian hacking efforts. By then, tens of thousands of emails and other sensitive assets had been obtained.
