I think the APD 29 SVR will continue to target diplomatic entities to try and gain strategic intelligence to enable Russian decision makers. We could see a level of economic espionage activity that might include things like IP theft that we've not historically seen from some of these groups. I think Russia is trying to be in a position where they could do some of these sort of token destructive attacks like we seen with the prestige ransomware press T as we call it. It's going to get them new cycles to go and do this kind of stuff and to get attention so keep an eye out for additional research obviously on activity associated with Russian threat activities.
This week’s episode of The Defender’s Advantage Podcast features Mandiant analysts Gabby Roncone, John Wolfram and Tyler McLellan who joined Threat Trends host Luke McNamara for a discussion on Russian cyber operations over the last year.
The group discusses the Russia linked threat groups and activity Mandiant has been tracking related to the conflict in Ukraine, including UNC2589 and APT29. They also share their perspectives on the targeting trends they’ve observed over the last year and the activity we might expect to see moving forward, such as an increase in economic espionage and continued diplomatic targeting by APT29.
Follow Gabby Roncone at @gabby_roncone, John Wolfram at @Big_Bad_W0lf_ and Tyler McLellan at @tylabs.
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Additional Resources
Listen to the episode, Threat Trends: Russian Invasion of Ukraine Information Operations featuring Sam Riddell and Alden Wahlstrom: https://mndt.info/3wGse9u
Listen to the episode, Threat Trends: Stolen Emails, Hacked Cameras and the Mysterious UNC3524 featuring Doug Bienstock and Josh Madeley: https://mndt.info/3vMne2R
Read the blog post, Trello From the Other Side: Tracking APT29 Phishing Campaigns: https://mndt.info/3UU9HjP
Read the blog post, They See Me Roaming: Following APT29 by Taking a Deeper Look at Windows Credential Roaming: https://mndt.info/3FZp7Pk