APT focus: ‘Noisy’ Russian hacking crews are among the world’s most sophisticated

guest · Sep 22, 2021

APT focus: ‘Noisy’ Russian hacking crews are among the world’s most sophisticated
Unpacking the Matryoshka dolls behind Kremlin-backed cybercrime campaigns
September 23, 2021
https://portswigger.net/daily-swig/...crews-are-among-the-worlds-most-sophisticated

State-sponsored Russian cyber espionage groups are among the most sophisticated of the nation-state threat actors, with an added flair for deception that makes them the canniest of adversaries.

Experts quizzed by The Daily Swig said that Russian cyber-threat actors are among the best in the world, on a par with the top groups operating out of China, and with similar capabilities to western intelligence agencies – especially those with close links to the Federal Security Service (FSB) or military.
Click to expand...

What are the techniques and tactics of Russian threat actors?
Russian state-sponsored actors typically have more sophisticated tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) alongside custom malware development capabilities and tighter operational security when compared to other groups.

Xueyin Peh, senior cyber threat intelligence analyst at Digital Shadows, told The Daily Swig: “Russia-linked APT groups are arguably some of the most technically advanced state-sponsored threat groups.

“They have used techniques that enable them to remain undetected for long periods of time, such as in the supply chain attack leveraging SolarWinds’ Orion Platform (which likely began as early as Spring 2020 but was only made known publicly in December 2020).
Click to expand...

How are Russian cyber-threat groups evolving?
Yana Blachman, threat intelligence specialist at Venafi, told The Daily Swig: “Russian state-sponsored APT groups make use of highly sophisticated TTPs to conduct disinformation, propaganda, espionage, and destructive cyber-attacks on a global scale.

“Unlike other groups that reuse code, use OS code or even buy tools, Russian APT groups are known to use their own tailor-made tools for their campaigns, with customised approaches for each target. They continue to develop new tools and redevelop old ones, and their TTPs prioritise operational security and defence evasion, making Russian APT activity very hard to detect.”
Click to expand...

How are Russian threat actors organized?
The relationships between the various Russian cyber espionage groups remains unclear.

IntSights’ Prudhomme explained: “In contrast to their Chinese and Iranian counterparts, there is no clear evidence that they extensively share malware development or infrastructure resources with each other via a ‘digital quartermaster’.”
Click to expand...

Log in or Sign up

APT focus: ‘Noisy’ Russian hacking crews are among the world’s most sophisticated

guest Guest

Log in or Sign up

APT focus: ‘Noisy’ Russian hacking crews are among the world’s most sophisticated

guest Guest

Useful Searches