The US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has warned of a large-scale hacking campaign targeting users of well-known messaging applications, noting that the perpetrators of these operations are linked to Russian intelligence services. This warning comes in light of the escalation of cyber attacks targeting figures of great intelligence importance around the world, including government and military officials, politicians and journalists.
In a joint statement with the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), the FBI explained that these attacks have already succeeded in penetrating thousands of accounts around the world, according to what the Independent newspaper reported.
The statement added, “These attacks target individuals with high intelligence value, such as current and former US government officials, military personnel, political figures, and journalists.”
The statement also explained that “after the account is compromised, attackers can view victims’ messages and contact lists, send messages on their behalf, and carry out additional phishing operations against other commercial messaging applications.”
Investigations revealed that the hackers’ focus was particularly on users of the “Signal” application, with the possibility of applying the same methods to other applications such as “WhatsApp” and “Telegram.”
In an official response, Signal confirmed that the attacks were carried out through sophisticated phishing campaigns aimed at tricking users into sharing sensitive information, such as verification codes or personal identification numbers (“PIN”).
The hacker’s technique relies on impersonating the app’s official support account with the aim of tricking users into clicking on malicious links, or sharing their verification codes, which could give attackers unauthorized access to the account.
In some cases, these attacks may cause other complications, such as infecting users’ devices with malware.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency advised users to be wary of unexpected or suspicious messages from unknown contacts, and called for extreme caution when dealing with any unfamiliar messages or links on messaging applications.
