This happened at the end of last year, Ukrinform reports, citing Microsoft.
“Star Blizzard’s targets are typically related to government and diplomacy (both former and current officials), defense policy, or international relations researchers whose work concerns Russia and assistance to Ukraine,” the publication says.
The attackers sent phishing messages that attempted to gain access to WhatsApp chat history and personal data. The emails, purporting to be from a US official, invited recipients to join a WhatsApp group “to receive information about initiatives to help Ukraine.”
It is noted that Microsoft, together with authorized US authorities, has previously closed about 180 sites related to Star Blizzard.
“However, they quickly moved to other domains and continued their activities, indicating significant resilience of these attackers to operational disruptions,” Microsoft emphasized.
The company did not specify whether Russian hackers still managed to gain unauthorized access to the accounts.