US Nuclear Scientists Targeted by Russian Hackers in Cyber Espionage Attempts

Russian hackers attempted to compromise US nuclear scientists in cyber espionage that were noticed recently.

Russia's Cold River Hacking Campaign

According to internet records, in August and September, as President Vladimir Putin implied Russia would be inclined to use nuclear weapons to protect its territory, Cold River tried to bait the Brookhaven (BNL), Argonne (ANL), and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories (LLNL) by creating fake login information for each institution and emailing scientists to make them expose their login details, reported Euractiv.

Reuters could not determine why and how the labs were targets or the intrusion was successful. None of these institutions commented on the actual status.

Many cybersecurity investigators and western public officials said the hackers had increased their cyber initiative against Kyiv's supporters since the conflict started.

An initial digital assault against the labs occurred as UN experts entered Moscow, Ukraine, territory to investigate Europe's largest atomic energy plant and consider the risks of what both sides said might be a disastrous radioactivity catastrophe despite heavy shelling near the area.

Cold River, which first emerged under the surveillance of intelligence professionals upon attacking Britain's foreign office in 2016, has already been involved in dozens of other, more significant hacking events in recent times, as shown by discussions with nine cybersecurity firms.

Reuters tracked down email accounts used during malicious cyber activities between 2015 and 2020 by an IT employee in the Russian city of Syktyvkar, citing i24 News.

Cyber Espionage Attempts on Western Institutions

According to Adam Meyers, senior vice president of intelligence at US cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike, it is among the most crucial computer hackers you've ever noticed. They are implicated in actually supporting Kremlin intelligence activities.

Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB), the domestic security agency that also performs covert operations initiatives for Moscow, and Russia's embassy in Washington did not reply to emails seeking comment.

Western authorities claim the Russian government is a worldwide leader in cyberattacks and utilizes cyber espionage to gather intelligence on foreign entities and businesses to pursue a competitive edge. Nonetheless, Moscow has repeatedly denied the need for any hacking processes.

Reuters presented its findings to five industry professionals, who confirmed Cold River's involvement in the initiated nuclear laboratories hacker attacks based on similar digital fingerprints previously linked to the collective by scientists.

The US National Security Agency (NSA) refused to respond to Cold River's operations. The foreign office did not give any statements.

Cold River Collects Intelligence

Cold River cracked into and leaked emails affiliated with the former head of Britain's MI6 spy service in May. One of many activities last year conducted by hackers revealed highly classified interactions publicly in Britain, Poland, and Latvia, as said by cybersecurity professionals and Eastern European security personnel.

The French cybersecurity firm SEKOIA.IO said Cold River got domain names to mimic at least three European NGOs probing war crimes in alleged cyber warfare activity affecting Moscow critics. In one of their cyber espionage attempts, Russian hackers conducted activities against US nuclear scientists as key targets of cyber spying.