As reported by Ukrinform, this was reported by the Reuters agency.

The espionage targeted diplomats working in at least 22 of the approximately 80 foreign diplomatic missions in the Ukrainian capital, according to a report by analysts from Unit 42 research unit, to be released later today.

“In mid-April 2023, a diplomat from the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs sent a postcard via email to various embassies advertising the sale of a used BMW 5 series sedan in Kiev,” the report states.

A Polish diplomat, who did not want to be named for security reasons, confirmed the role of his ads in this hacking attack.

Unit 42 analysts said hackers known as the APT29 group or “Cozy Bear” intercepted and copied the ad, embedded malware in the ad, and then sent it to dozens of other foreign diplomats working in Kiev.

“This is an astonishing scale for narrow-scale and covert operations that typically have an advanced persistent threat,” analysts said in a report.

In 2021, the special services of the United States and England identified the APT29 hackers as a unit of the Foreign Intelligence Service of the Russian Federation.

In April, Polish counterintelligence and cybersecurity officials warned that the same group was conducting a “wide-scale intelligence campaign” against NATO, EU and African member states.

As reported, it was down for several days as a result of a cyberattack by the Russian hacking group LockBit 3.0 in Nagoya, Japan’s largest cargo port, where most of the Toyota Motor company’s export-import operations are carried out.