Russian Hackers Reportedly Targeted US Nuclear Research Labs: Here's How They Tried Tricking Scientists

A group of Russian hackers reportedly targeted three U.S. nuclear research laboratories in the summer of 2022. 

The Russian group Cold River carried out a phishing campaign against scientists at the Brookhaven, Argonne, and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories to obtain passwords, Reuters reports. 

According to the report, hackers created fake login pages for the laboratories and contacted nuclear scientists to try to trick them into revealing their passwords.

"This is one of the most important hacking groups you've never heard of," Reuters quoted Adam Meyers, senior vice president of intelligence at U.S. cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike saying. "They are involved in directly supporting Kremlin information operations."

Cold River hacked into and leaked emails belonging to the former head of Britain's MI6 spy service in 2022 and targeted Britain's foreign ministry in 2016.

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The hacking team has been involved in many other high-profile hacking incidents. 

According to Reuters, western officials say the Russian government is a global leader in hacking and uses cyber espionage to spy on foreign governments and industries to seek a competitive advantage. 

In a blog post, SEKOIA.IO said that Cold River sought to contribute to "Russian intelligence collection about identified war crime-related evidence and international justice procedures." However, Reuters was unable to confirm this detail. 

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Photo: Pete Linforth/Pixabay.