Security News > 2020 > March > State-Backed Players Join Pandemic Cyber Crime Attacks
Sophisticated state-supported actors are following cybercriminals in exploiting the coronavirous pandemic and posing an "Advanced persistent threat", French defence technology giant Thales warned Monday.
Hades, linked to the APT28 which is believed to be of Russian origin and behind an attack on the US Democrat party in 2016, was the first state-backed group to use the epidemic as bait, Thales' cyber intelligence service reported.
"According to the cyber security company QiAnXin, Hades hackers waged a campaign in mid-February by hiding a Trojan horse in bait documents disguised as e-mail from the Ukrainian health ministry's public health centre," Thales said.
Vicious Panda, a group believed to be of Chinese origin, was behind "a new campaign against the Mongolian public sector", Thales said, quoting the US-Israeli firm Checkpoint.
"It seems that the cyber threat ecosystem is following the geographical spread of COVID-19 with attacks first in Asia, then eastern Europe and now in western Europe," Thales noted.