Russia-linked hackers impersonate NATO in attempt to hack Romanian government

An elite hacking group linked to the Russian government masqueraded as a NATO representative to send a barrage of phishing emails to diplomatic organizations in Europe, including Romania’s Foreign Ministry of Affairs, documents show. CyberScoop obtained a copy of one such phishing email that researchers have attributed to the hacking group, which is known as APT28 or Fancy Bear. The email, which carries a booby-trapped attachment that leverages two recently disclosed Microsoft Word vulnerabilities, shows that the government-backed hacking group effectively spoofed a NATO email address to make the message appear authentic. The hq.nato.intl domain is currently used by NATO employees. The file has already been submitted to Virus Total, a publicly maintained library of computer viruses. Typically files don’t appear on the site unless they have been found in the wild. An analyst from cybersecurity firm FireEye confirmed the phishing email pictured above is in fact authentic and related to APT28 activity. […]

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