8/8/2018 Russian APT28 espionage group targets democratic Senator Claire McCaskillSecurity Affairs

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Russian APT28 espionage group targets democratic Senator Sponsored C

Claire McCaskill See Also

July 28, 2018 By Pierluigi Paganini 1 Microso

Like 25
2 Microso

3 Build Yo
The Russia-linked APT28 group targets Senator Claire
McCaskill and her staff as they gear up for her 2018 re- 4 Celebri

election campaign.
The Russian APT group tracked as Fancy Bear (aka APT28, Pawn Storm, Sofacy Digging the
Group, Sednit, and STRONTIUM), that operated under the Russian military agency GRU, continues of the web
to target US politicians.

This time the target is Senator Claire McCaskill and her staff as they gear up for her 2018 re-election
campaign.

The news was reported by The Daily Beast, McCaskill always expressed criticism of Russia and its
aggressive strategy in the cyberspace. McCaskill has repeatedly accused the Russian Government of
“cyber warfare against our democracy,” she defined President Vladimir Putin as a “thug” and a “bully.”
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Russian cyberspies launched spear-phishing attacks against the member of the staff aimed at
your cookie settings, click here. If you continue to browse this site without changing your cookie settings, you agree to this
stealing their credentials, a tactic already used against Hillary Clinton campaign manager John
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Podesta in 2016.

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8/8/2018 Russian APT28 espionage group targets democratic Senator Claire McCaskillSecurity Affairs

The phishing
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“The attempt against McCaskill’s office was a variant of the Terrorism EXTENDED
password-stealing COOKIE
technique usedPOLICY
by Contact me
Russia’s so-called “Fancy Bear” hackers against Clinton’s campaign chairman, John Podesta, in
Laws and regulations Malware Mobile Reports Security
2016.” reads the report published by The Daily Beast.

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“The hackers sent forged notification emails to Senate targets claiming the target’s Microsoft
Exchange password had expired, and instructing them to change it. If the target clicked on the link, he
or she was taken to a convincing replica of the U.S. Senate’s Active Directory Federation Services
(ADFS) login page, a single sign-on point for e-mail and other services.”

#infosec16 S
Personal Sec

In July, Microsoft helped the US Government is protecting at least three 2018 midterm election
candidates from attacks of Russian cyberspies.

The hackers sent spear-phishing messages to the candidates, the messages included links to a fake
Microsoft website used by the cyberspies to trick victims into providing their credentials.

“Earlier this year, we did discover that a fake Microsoft domain had been established as the landing
page for phishing attacks,” said Tom Burt, Microsoft’s vice president for customer security.

“And we saw metadata that suggested those phishing attacks were being directed at three candidates
who are all standing for election in the midterm elections.”

Once Microsoft discovered the phishing website it has taken down it and helped the US government
to “avoid anybody being infected by that particular attack.”

“In October,
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Read More

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8/8/2018 Russian APT28 espionage group targets democratic Senator Claire McCaskillSecurity Affairs

hackers, after
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unnamed “John Doe” defendants.” continues the
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Microsoft made sinkholing of the website, in this
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were redirected to the phishing attack.
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The Daily Beast identified McCaskill as a target while investigating statements made by Microsoft VP
Social Networks Terrorism
Tom Burt during his speech at the Aspen Security Forum.
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Microsoft attributed the attacks to Russian APT28 group. +Pierluig

McCaskill released a statement confirming that cyberattack was unsuccessful. Pierluigi P

“Russia continues to engage in cyber warfare against our democracy. I will continue to speak out and (European
press to hold them accountable,” McCaskill said. Informati
Stakehold
“While this attack was not successful, it is outrageous that they think they can get away with this. I will
Workgrou
not be intimidated. I’ve said it before and I will say it again, Putin is a thug and a bully.”
Foreign A
See Also Cooperati
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University
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Pierluigi Paganini

(Security Affairs – McCaskill, APT28)

 APT28 Cyberespionage FANCY BEAR Hacking McCaskill Pierluigi Paganini

politics Russia Security Affairs

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8/8/2018 Russian APT28 espionage group targets democratic Senator Claire McCaskillSecurity Affairs

HomeHome
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Pierluigi Paganini
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Digital ID Paganini
Pierluigi Hacking
is member Hacktivism
Socialof
Intelligence
the ENISA Terrorism
Networks (European Union Internet
AgencyCOOKIE
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POLICY Contact me
and Information Security) Threat Landscape Stakeholder Group and Cyber G7
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Group, he is also a Security Evangelist, Security Analyst and Freelance Writer.
Security
Editor-in-Chief at "Cyber Defense Magazine", Pierluigi is a cyber security expert
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with over 20 years experience in the field, he is Certified Ethical Hacker at EC
Council in London. The passion for writing and a strong belief that security is
founded on sharing and awareness led Pierluigi to find the security blog
"Security Affairs" recently named a Top National Security Resource for US.
Pierluigi is a member of the "The Hacker News" team and he is a writer for some
major publications in the field such as Cyber War Zone, ICTTF, Infosec Island,
Infosec Institute, The Hacker News Magazine and for many other Security
magazines. Author of the Books "The Deep Dark Web" and “Digital Virtual
Currency and Bitcoin”.

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