As reported by Ukrinform, this was reported in a Reuters article.

“Between August and September, when President Vladimir Putin announced that Russia would be ready to use nuclear weapons to defend its territory, Cold River Brookhaven (BNL) attacked the Argonne (ANL) and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories (LLNL). Internet records show each of the hackers. He said he had created fake login pages for the agency and sent emails to nuclear scientists trying to expose their passwords.

Reuters was unable to learn why these labs were targeted or whether their infiltration attempts were successful.

Cold River has stepped up its hacking campaign against Kiev’s allies since the all-out invasion of Ukraine, according to cybersecurity experts and Western government officials. “Digital blitzkrieg against US laboratories comes as UN experts enter Russian-controlled Ukrainian territory to oversee Europe’s largest nuclear power plant and assess, as both sides say, the risk of a devastating radiation disaster amid intense bombardment nearby,” the article states. says.

As the agency noted, the Cold River group first came under the radar of intelligence professionals in the wake of an attack on the British Foreign Office in 2016 and has been involved in dozens of other high-profile hacking cases in recent years. Reuters tracked email mailboxes used in hacking operations between 2015 and 2020, leading to an IT worker in Syktyvkar, Russia.

“This is one of the most important hacker groups you’ve never heard of. They directly support the Kremlin’s information operations,” said Adam Meyer, senior vice president of intelligence at the American cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike.

Reuters presented its findings to five industry experts who confirmed that Cold River was involved in hacking attempts at nuclear labs based on shared digital fingerprints that researchers have historically associated with the group.

The US National Security Agency (NSA) declined to comment on Cold River’s activities. The British Government Communications Center (GCHQ), the NSA’s counterpart, also did not comment.

As reported by Ukrinform, the Microsoft company said earlier this winter that Russia will intensify its cyber activities by trying to influence countries that provide support to Ukraine.

On January 5, the incident response team of Italy’s National Cyber ​​Security Agency announced an increase in the number of DDoS attacks against Italian institutions by Russian hacker groups.