The Finnish Security Intelligence Service (Supo) and the Finnish Defence Intelligence (FDI) on Monday warned companies of Russian cyber espionage campaign targeting poorly configured network devices, said Supo in a press release.
The Finnish authorities issued the warning together with the National Security Agency (NSA) of the United States and several Western intelligence services.
“Russian state-sponsored cyber threat actors have consistently continued to conduct cyber operations against poorly configured and vulnerable network devices,” said the jointly issued advisory.
According to the advisory, the malicious activity is linked to the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) Center 16.
Private cybersecurity companies have been tracking this activity, referred to by such names as Berserk Bear, Energetic Bear, Crouching Yeti, Dragonfly, Ghost Blizzard and Static Tundra.
The FSB conducts long-term cyber operations and targets especially different sectors of critical infrastructure, such as the energy sector and the defense industrial base.
The targets are selected partly on an opportunistic basis, depending on where the FSB’s cyber actors are able to successfully intrude.
The mentioned threat primarily targets company-level network devices, and largely not ordinary citizens’ home routers, which Supo has previously warned against.
Authorities warned that Russia is using poorly configured Internet-connected devices around the world for malicious cyber operations.
The CSA is intended to encourage device owners and cyber professionals to take action to reduce the potential for cyber espionage.
The Finnish intelligence authorities urged the companies and organisations to be aware of the threat to edge devices.
The authorities recommended that the companies should use SNMP version 3, use strong passwords, disable Cisco Smart Install feature and restrict management connections to edge devices from the Internet.
- Supo
- Companies
- Russia
- Cyber espionage
Source: www.dailyfinland.fi
