Security News > 2021 > November > Ukraine Identifies Russian FSB Officers Hacking As Gamaredon Group

Ukraine's premier law enforcement and counterintelligence agency on Thursday disclosed the real identities of five individuals allegedly involved in digital intrusions attributed to a cyber-espionage group named Gamaredon, linking the members to Russia's Federal Security Service.

Calling the hacker group "An FSB special project, which specifically targeted Ukraine," the Security Service of Ukraine said the perpetrators "Are officers of the 'Crimean' FSB and traitors who defected to the enemy during the occupation of the peninsula in 2014.".

Since its inception in 2013, the Russia-linked Gamaredon group has been responsible for a number of malicious phishing campaigns, primarily aimed at Ukrainian institutions, with the goal of harvesting classified information from compromised Windows systems for geopolitical gains.

"Contrary to other APT groups, the Gamaredon group seems to make no effort in trying to stay under the radar," Slovak cybersecurity firm ESET noted in an analysis published in June 2020.

"The group's activities are characterized by intrusiveness and audacity," the agency pointed out in a technical report.

"Established as a unit of the so-called 'FSB Office of Russia in the Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol,' this group of individuals acted as an outpost [] from 2014 purposefully threatening the proper functioning of state bodies and critical infrastructure of Ukraine."

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