"Microsoft: Russian Cyber Spying Targets 42 Ukraine Allies"

Security researchers at Microsoft recently published a report.  The researchers found that coinciding with unrelenting cyberattacks against Ukraine, state-backed Russian hackers have engaged in "strategic espionage" against governments, think tanks, businesses, and aid groups in 42 countries supporting Kyiv.  The researchers stated that since the start of the war, the Russian targeting (of Ukraine's allies) has been successful 29 percent of the time, with data stolen in at least one-quarter of the successful network intrusions.  The researchers noted that nearly two-thirds of the cyberespionage targets involved NATO members.  The United States was the prime target and Poland, the main conduit for military assistance flowing to Ukraine, was number 2.  In the past two months, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Sweden, and Turkey have seen stepped-up targeting.  Surprisingly the researchers stated that Estonia has detected no Russian cyber intrusions since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24th.   Microsoft noted that this could be because of Estonia's adoption of cloud computing, where it's easier to detect intruders.  The researchers stated that half of the 128 organizations targeted are government agencies, and 12% are nongovernmental agencies, typically think tanks or humanitarian groups.  Other targets include telecommunications, energy, and defense companies.  The researchers also assessed Russian disinformation and propaganda aimed at "undermining Western unity and deflecting criticism of Russian military war crimes" and wooing people in nonaligned countries.   Using artificial intelligence tools, the researchers said, they estimated that "Russian cyber influence operations successfully increased the spread of Russian propaganda after the war began by 216 percent in Ukraine and 82 percent in the United States."

Associated Press reports: "Microsoft: Russian Cyber Spying Targets 42 Ukraine Allies"