Responding to reports of Russian attempts to capture COVID-19 vaccine research via cyber theft, Dr Duncan Hodges, Senior Lecturer in Cyberspace Operations at 美姬阁, said: 鈥淭his is textbook activity that you would expect to see from the Cozy Bear group at this time and is typical of their approach to intelligence gathering.
"The difference between other nation states and Russia, is that they are typically less concerned about the theft being attributed to them, meaning their appetite for risk is much higher.
鈥淭hey are using the tools, techniques and procedures that have been highly successful in the past for this advanced and persistent threat. The Cozy Bear group of hackers have historically had significant success using techniques such as spearfishing, and exploiting existing vulnerabilities in corporate IT infrastructure 鈥� all activities highlighted in NCSC鈥檚 advisory published today.
鈥淚鈥檇 be incredibly surprised if Russia hadn鈥檛 had some success in these attacks. The reason they keep on using these tools and techniques is because they are incredibly successful in carrying them out, with successful high profile attacks on US Non-Governmental Organisations, political parties and a number of Government departments around the world.
鈥淎t a time when people鈥檚 attention is rightly focused on developing a life-saving vaccine, cyber-security tends to take a lower priority for individuals, who overlook their basic security practices. This increase in vulnerability is what Russia thrives on to conduct its information operations.
鈥淎s long as Russia keeps having success with these methods and continues to be unafraid of being caught, these attacks will keep on coming.鈥�
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