The group behind the SolarWinds cyber attack identified late last year is now targeting some 150 government agencies, think tanks, consultants, and non-governmental organisations, Microsoft Corp said.
“This week we observed cyber attacks by the threat actor Nobelium targeting government agencies, think tanks, consultants, and non-governmental organisations”, Microsoft said in a blog post published late Thursday night Los Angeles time (Friday AEST).
The attackers, dubbed Nobelium by Microsoft after the radioactive element, originated from Russia, the company said, and is the same actor behind the attacks on SolarWinds customers in 2020.
Microsoft president Brad Smith described last year’s attack as “the largest and most sophisticated attack the world has ever seen”. Credit:Bloomberg
“This wave of attacks targeted approximately 3000 email accounts at more than 150 different organisations,” Microsoft said.
While organisations in the United States received the largest share of attacks, Microsoft said targeted victims came from at least 24 countries.
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At least a quarter of the targeted organisations were involved in international development, humanitarian issues and human rights work.
Nobelium launched this week’s attacks by breaking into an email marketing account used by the US Agency For International Development and from there launching phishing attacks on many other organisations, Microsoft said.
The hack of SolarWinds, which was identified in December, gave access to thousands of companies and government offices that used its software products. Microsoft President Brad Smith described that attack as “the largest and most sophisticated attack the world has ever see ..
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