WASHINGTON – Russian hackers are going after US government officials, defence workers and others in a new email phishing campaign targeting thousands of people, according to Microsoft Corp.

The hackers have sent “a series of highly targeted spearphishing emails” to thousands of people in more than 100 organisations since Oct 22, according to a blog post from Microsoft Threat Intelligence published on Oct 29. 

The latest campaign will add to mounting concerns over US failures to outwit suspected Russian and Chinese hackers.

The FBI said on Oct 25 it is investigating unauthorised access by Chinese state-affiliated hackers targeting the commercial telecommunications sector.

In some of the emails that were part of the latest campaign, the senders impersonated Microsoft employees, according to the blog.

Spearphishing involves sending tailored emails to individuals, including links to malicious websites that can then steal information.

It wasn’t immediately clear how many of the attacks, if any, were successful.

Microsoft has said the attacks are perpetrated by a sophisticated Russian nation-state group it calls Midnight Blizzard, which US and UK governments have connected to the SVR, the Russian foreign intelligence service. 

The company said in January that the group attacked its corporate systems, getting into a “small number” of email accounts, including senior leadership and employees who work in cybersecurity and legal.

In April, US federal agencies were ordered to analyse emails, reset compromised credentials and work to secure Microsoft accounts.

At the time, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (Cisa) said the incident represented a “grave and unacceptable risk” to agencies, according to the April directive. 

Cisa and US State Department didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

The Russian Embassy in Washington didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. BLOOMBERG

WASHINGTON – Chinese hackers who tapped into Verizon’s system targeted phones used by Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and his running mate JD Vance, the New York Times reported on Oct 25, citing people familiar with the matter.

The newspaper said investigators were working to determine what communications, if any, were taken.

The Trump campaign was made aware this week that Trump and Mr Vance were among a number of people inside and outside of government whose phone numbers were targeted through the infiltration of Verizon phone systems, it added.

The campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Trump campaign was hacked earlier this year. The US Justice Department charged three members of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps with the hack and trying to disrupt the Nov 5 election. REUTERS

SINGAPORE – Singapore Telecommunications Ltd., Singapore’s largest mobile carrier, was breached by Chinese state-sponsored hackers this summer as part of a broader campaign against telecommunications companies and other critical infrastructure operators around the world, according to two people familiar with the matter.

The previously undisclosed breach was discovered in June, and investigators believe it was pulled off by a hacking group known as Volt Typhoon, according to the two people, who asked not to be identified to discuss a confidential investigation.

Officials in the US, Australia, Canada, the UK and New Zealand – the “Five Eyes” intelligence-sharing alliance – warned earlier in 2024 that Volt Typhoon was embedding itself inside compromised IT networks to give China the ability to conduct disruptive cyberattacks in the event of a military conflict with the West.

The breach of Singtel, a carrier with operations throughout South-east Asia and Australia, was seen as a test run by China for further hacks against US telecommunications companies, and information from the attack has provided clues about the expanding scope of suspected Chinese attacks against critical infrastructure abroad, including in the US, the people said.

In an e-mailed response to queries from Bloomberg News, Singtel did not directly address questions about the alleged breach. “We understand the importance of network resilience, especially because we are a key infrastructure service provider,” the company said. “That’s why we adopt industry best practices and work with industry-leading security partners to continuously monitor and promptly address the threats that we face on a daily basis. We also regularly review and enhance our cybersecurity capabilities and defences to protect our critical assets from evolving threats.”

A spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Washington, Liu Pengyu, said he was not aware of the specifics, as relayed by Bloomberg, but that in general, China firmly opposes and combats cyberattacks and cybertheft.

The US is currently battling its own suspected Chinese attacks of political campaigns and telecommunications companies. Officials have described the telecom breaches as one of the most damaging campaigns on record by suspected Chinese hackers and one that they are still seeking to fully understand and contain. 

In the US telecommunications attacks, which investigators have attributed to another Chinese group called Salt Typhoon, AT&T Inc. and Verizon Communications Inc. are among those breached, and the hackers potentially accessed systems the federal government uses for court-authorised network wiretapping requests, the Wall Street Journal reported in early October.

US intelligence officials think the Chinese hacking group that Microsoft Corp. dubbed Salt Typhoon may have been inside US telecommunications companies for months and found a route into an access point for legally authorised wiretapping, according to a person familiar with their views.

AT&T declined to comment. Verizon did not respond to a request for comment.

Through those intrusions, the hackers are believed to have targeted the phones of former President Donald Trump, running mate JD Vance and Trump family members, as well as members of Vice-President Kamala Harris’ campaign staff and others, the New York Times has reported.

In the case of the alleged Singtel breach, one of the people familiar with that incident said the attack relied on a tool known as a web shell. 

In August, researchers at Lumen Technologies Inc. said in a blog post they assessed with “moderate confidence” that Volt Typhoon had used such a web shell. A sample of the malware was first uploaded to VirusTotal, a popular site for security experts to research malicious code, on June 7 by an unidentified entity in Singapore, according to Lumen researchers.

The web shell allowed hackers to intercept and gather credentials to gain access to a customer’s network disguised as a bona fide user, they said.

The hackers then breached four US firms, including internet service providers, and another in India, according to Lumen researchers.

General Timothy Haugh, director of the National Security Agency, said in early October that the investigations into the latest telecommunications breaches were at an early stage. Later in October, the FBI and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency said they had identified specific malicious activity by actors affiliated with the Chinese government and immediately notified affected companies and “rendered technical assistance.”

A spokesperson for the National Security Council last week referred to the “ongoing investigation and mitigation efforts,” but directed further questions to the FBI and CISA. 

Singtel uncovered the breach of its network after detecting suspicious data traffic in a core back-end router and finding what it believed was sophisticated, and possibly state-sponsored, malware on it, according to the other person familiar with the investigation.

The malware was in “listening” mode and didn’t appear to have been activated for espionage or any other purpose, the person said, adding that it reinforced a suspicion that the attack was either a test run of a new hacking capability or that its purpose was to create a strategic access point for future attacks.

There is evidence that Salt Typhoon reached the US at least as early as spring 2024, and possibly long before, and investigators tracking the group think it has infiltrated other telecommunications companies throughout Asia, including in Indonesia, Nepal, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam, according to two people familiar with those efforts.

The NSA has warned since 2022 that telecommunications infrastructure was vulnerable to Chinese hacking. Volt Typhoon has been active since at least mid-2020, having attacked sensitive networks in Guam and elsewhere in the US with a goal of burrowing into critical infrastructure and staying undetected for as long as possible. 

The hacks by both Chinese Typhoon groups have alarmed Western officials and raised concerns about the number and severity of backdoors – a way to get around security tools and gain high-level access to a computer system – that China has placed inside critical IT systems. Those entry points could be used to conduct espionage or prepare the battlespace for use in a potential military conflict with the West.

Chinese hackers have long been accused of conducting espionage attacks against the US – including, most notably, the theft of security clearance applications for tens of millions of US government workers held by the Office of Personnel Management.

But officials say the latest hacks go a step further and in some cases suggest China may be amassing capabilities to disrupt or degrade critical services in the US and abroad.

Paul Nakasone, a retired general who led the NSA for nearly six years until February, told reporters in October that the latest telecommunications hacks by Salt Typhoon were distinguished by their scale, and that the two Chinese groups represent a tremendous challenge for the government. “I am not pleased in terms of where we’re at with either of the Typhoons,” he said. BLOOMBERG

An Iranian hacking group is actively scouting U.S. election-related websites and American media outlets as election day nears, according to a new Microsoft blog published on Wednesday. Researchers say the activity suggests “preparations for more direct influence operations.”

The hackers – dubbed Cotton Sandstorm by Microsoft and linked to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps – performed reconnaissance and limited probing of multiple “election-related websites” in several unnamed swing states, the report notes. In May, they also scanned an unidentified U.S. news outlet to understand its vulnerabilities.

“Cotton Sandstorm will increase its activity as the election nears given the group’s operational tempo and history of election interference,” researchers wrote. The development is particularly concerning because of the group’s past efforts.

Iran’s mission to the United Nations did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In recent past comments, they denied any involvement in 2024 election-related hacking activity.

In 2020, Cotton Sandstorm launched a different cyber-enabled influence operation shortly before the last presidential election. Posing as the right-wing “Proud Boys,” the hackers sent thousands of emails to Florida residents, threatening them to “vote for Trump or else!”.

The group also released a video on social media, purporting to come from hacktivists, where they showed them probing an election system. While that operation never affected individual voting systems, the goal was to cause chaos, confusion and doubt, senior U.S. officials said at the time.

Following the 2020 election, Cotton Sandstorm also ran a separate operation that encouraged violence against U.S. election officials who had denied claims of widespread voter fraud, Microsoft said.

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence, which is coordinating the federal effort to defend the election from foreign influence, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. REUTERS

WASHINGTON – Chinese state-affiliated hackers intercepted audio from the phone calls of US political figures including an unnamed campaign adviser of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, the Washington Post reported on Oct 27.

The FBI and the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency said on Oct 25 they were investigating unauthorised access to commercial telecommunications infrastructure by people associated with China.

Trump’s campaign and the FBI did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Post also reported the hackers were able to access unencrypted communications like text messages, of the individual.

Reuters reported on Oct 25 that Chinese hackers also targeted phones used by people affiliated with the campaign of Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris.

Trump and his running mate, J.D. Vance, were targeted, various media outlets reported last week.

The Trump campaign was made aware last week that Trump and Mr Vance were among a number of people inside and outside of government whose phone numbers were targeted through the infiltration of Verizon phone systems, the New York Times reported on Oct 25.

The Trump campaign was hacked earlier in 2024. The US Justice Department charged three members of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps with the hack, accusing them of trying to disrupt the Nov 5 election.

Verizon said on Oct 25 it was aware of a sophisticated attempt to target US telecoms and gather intelligence and is working with law enforcement.

Congress is also investigating and earlier this month U.S. lawmakers asked AT&T, Verizon and Lumen Technologies to answer questions about reports Chinese hackers accessed the networks of U.S. broadband providers.

The Chinese embassy in Washington said last week it was unaware of the specific situation but said China opposes and combats cyber attacks and cyber thefts in all forms. REUTERS