Russian Hackers Hijack Satellite To Steal Data from Thousands of Hacked Computers
A group of Russian hackers, most notably the Turla APT (Advanced Persistent Threat) is hijacking commercial satellites to hide command-and-control operations, a security firm said today.
Turla APT group, which was named after its notorious software Epic Turla, is abusing satellite-based Internet connections in order to:
- Siphon sensitive data from government, military, diplomatic, research and educational organisations in the United States and Europe.
- Hide their command-and-control servers from law enforcement agencies.
Despite some of its operations were uncovered last year, Turla APT group has been active for close to a decade, while remaining invisible by cleverly hiding from law enforcement agencies and security firms.
Now, security researchers from Moscow-based cyber security firm Kaspersky Lab claim to have identified the way Turla APT group succeeded in hiding itself.
The researchers said the group disguised itself by using commercial satellite Internet connections to hide their command-and-control servers.
Turla is a sophisticated Russian cyber-espionage group, believed to be sponsored by the Russian government, that has targeted a number of government, military, embassy, research, and pharmaceutical organisations in more than 45 countries, including China, Vietnam, and the United States.