Microsoft says cyber-espionage campaign \u2018poses high risk\u2019 to foreign embassies, diplomats and other groups in Moscow.<\/p>\n
Microsoft has accused one of the Russian government\u2019s premier cyber-espionage units of deploying malware against embassies and diplomatic organisations in Moscow by leveraging local internet service providers.<\/p>\n
In a blog post<\/a> on Thursday, Microsoft Threat Intelligence said the campaign by Russia\u2019s Federal Security Service, also known as the FSB, \u201chas been ongoing since at least 2024\u201d.<\/p>\n The effort \u201cposes a high risk to foreign embassies, diplomatic entities, and other sensitive organizations operating in Moscow, particularly to those entities who rely on local internet providers\u201d, Microsoft said.<\/p>\n The analysis confirms for the first time that the FSB is conducting cyber-espionage at the ISP level, according to Microsoft\u2019s findings.<\/p>\n \u201cThis means that diplomatic personnel using local ISP or telecommunications services in Russia are highly likely targets of [the campaign] within those services,\u201d the blog post reads.<\/p>\n Microsoft tracked an alleged FSB cyber-espionage campaign that in February targeted unnamed foreign embassies in Moscow.<\/p>\n The FSB activity facilitates the installation of custom backdoors on targeted computers, which can be used to install additional malware, as well as steal data, Microsoft said.<\/p>\n