Microsoft: Russia Behind 58% of Detected State-Backed Hacks

guest · Oct 7, 2021

Microsoft: Russia Behind 58% of Detected State-Backed Hacks
October 7, 2021
https://www.securityweek.com/microsoft-russia-behind-58-detected-state-backed-hacks

The devastating effectiveness of the long-undetected SolarWinds hack — it mainly breached information technology businesses including Microsoft — also boosted Russian state-backed hackers’ success rate to 32% in the year ending June 30, compared with 21% in the preceding 12 months.

China, meanwhile, accounted for fewer than 1 in 10 of the state-backed hacking attempts Microsoft detected but was successful 44% of the time in breaking into targeted networks, Microsoft said in its second annual Digital Defense Report, which covers July 2020 through June 2021.
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While Russia’s prolific state-sponsored hacking is well known, Microsoft’s report offers unusually specific detail on how it stacks up against that by other U.S. adversaries.
The report by Microsoft Corp., which works closely with Washington government agencies, does not address U.S. government hacking.
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Russian hack attempts were up from 52% in the 2019-20 period as a share of global cyber-intrusion bids detected by the “nation-state notification service” that Microsoft employs to alert its customers. For the year ending June 30, North Korea was second as country of origin at 23%, up from less than 11% previously. China dipped to 8% from 12%.

Only 4% of all state-backed hacking that Microsoft detected targeted critical infrastructure, the Redmond, Washington-based company said, with Russian agents far less interested in it than Chinese or Iranian cyber-operatives.
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In the report, Microsoft said Russian state hackers’ recent greater efficacy “could portend more high-impact compromises in the year ahead.” Accounting for more 92% of the detected Russian activity was the elite hacking team in Russia’s SVR foreign intelligence agency best known as Cozy Bear.
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guest · Oct 9, 2021

Nobelium Makes Russia Leader in Cyberattacks
October 8, 2021
https://www.databreachtoday.com/nobelium-makes-russia-leader-in-cyberattacks-a-17705

Tech giant Microsoft in its annual Digital Defense Report has highlighted how Russia dominates in the list of countries from which cyberattacks originated between July 2020 and June 2021. Microsoft says 58% of cyberattacks worldwide originated in Russia, and 92% of the Russia-based threat activity came from the nation-state threat group Nobelium.

Nobelium is the threat group identified as having carried out the attack on SolarWinds and its customers in December 2020. That attack affected nearly 18,000 organizations as the threat group allegedly pushed a malicious backdoor malware into the compromised entities, subsequently affecting several federal agencies along with research centers, schools, hospitals and even Microsoft itself (see: Group Behind SolarWinds Attack Targeted Microsoft Customers).
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Nobelium's Diversity
Microsoft calls Nobelium's operation "insidious and devastating," citing the diverse techniques that the threat group uses.

"It [Nobelium's operation] is much more diverse than just the malicious backdoor. It ranges from password spray and phishing to compromise of third-party providers to facilitate future attacks," the report says.
Motivation of Russian Threat Actors
Microsoft's research team has found evidence that Russian threat actors - including Nobelium, Strontium and Bromine - have attempted to infiltrate user accounts across all continents, but "they predominantly focused on organizations based in the U.S., followed by Ukraine, the U.K. and NATO allies and member states across Europe." Microsoft says Russia's declaration of these countries as being "unfriendly" is a major reason for that.
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Reuters news agency, citing an undisclosed investigating team, has confirmed that Nobelium laid its hands on some critical data during the SolarWinds hack. The data includes reports on counterintelligence investigations, policies on Russia and its associated individuals, and the United States' response to COVID-19, among others.

Microsoft's report supports this revelation.
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