Hackers associated with the Russian state could have obtained secret information after they breached the accounts of Dutch officials in messaging applications WhatsApp and Signal.
It is about access to the conversations of high-ranking officials, government employees, and military personnel, writes Nederlandse Omroep Stichting, citing a report from the Dutch Military Intelligence and Security Service and the Dutch General Intelligence and Security Service.
“The Dutch intelligence services believe that the targets of this campaign could also include other persons of interest to the Russian government, for example, journalists,” a statement from the AIVD reads. The services did not specify which group would be responsible for the attacks.
According to the report, the hackers most often pose as Signal’s customer support chatbots to convince users to provide confidential data. Thus, the attackers can take over the officials’ accounts and read the conversations in the groups to which they are subscribed.
The intelligence services claim that Russian hackers are particularly interested in Signal groups because the application is frequently used in state institutions due to its high level of security.
Another way to access accounts is by exploiting the “connected devices” feature, which allows multiple devices to connect to the same account. The report mentions that it could be a “global cyber campaign”, in which the attackers could have already gained access to confidential information.
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