LONDON : A Russia-based hacking group named Cold River is behind an expansive and ongoing information-gathering campaign that has struck various targets in government, politics, academia, defence, journalism, and activism, Britain said on Thursday.
"There is often some correspondence between attacker and target, sometimes over an extended period, as the attacker builds rapport," the advisory said. Once a rapport has been built with a target, Cold River hackers encourage the target to click on a malicious link which tricks them into entering their login credentials on a website controlled by the group, the advisory said.
Reuters reported that Cold River, also known as"Callisto" and"Seaborgium", targeted three nuclear research laboratories in the United States last summer and published private emails from former British spymaster Richard Dearlove in May.A second, Iran-based, group known as Charming Kitten has deployed the same"spear-phishing" techniques to gather information, according to the NCSC.