{ "id": "f4e9e221-20d2-4b77-ac21-ee59c285375b", "created_at": "2026-04-06T00:15:49.528203Z", "updated_at": "2026-04-10T03:37:33.335511Z", "deleted_at": null, "sha1_hash": "c624aa229ea1214fb052d8eb1d8f9d4d9a0cd357", "title": "Russian spies' hacking campaign is 'endangering' French diplomatic interests", "llm_title": "", "authors": "", "file_creation_date": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z", "file_modification_date": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z", "file_size": 82745, "plain_text": "Russian spies' hacking campaign is 'endangering' French\r\ndiplomatic interests\r\nBy Alexander Martin\r\nPublished: 2024-06-20 · Archived: 2026-04-05 15:31:45 UTC\r\nFrance’s cybersecurity agency is warning that a hacking group linked to  Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service\r\n(SVR) is endangering the country’s diplomatic interests.\r\nThe alert on Wednesday from ANSSI — the Agence Nationale de la Sécurité des Systèmes d’Information (the\r\nNational Agency for the Security of Information Systems) — confirms several compromises that had previously\r\nbeen publicly reported and attributed to the hacking group that France tracks as Nobelium.\r\n“Western diplomatic entities, such as embassies and Ministries of Foreign Affairs, account for the majority of\r\nknown Nobelium’s victims,” stated the alert, which confirmed: “French public organizations have been targeted\r\nseveral times by phishing emails sent from foreign institutions previously compromised by Nobelium’s\r\noperators.”\r\nThese incidents included compromising email accounts at the French Ministry of Culture and the National Agency\r\nfor Territorial Cohesion, although according to ANSSI the hackers weren’t able to access any parts of those\r\nnetworks beyond the compromised inboxes.\r\nBut the hackers then used those email accounts in attempts to target other organizations, including France’s\r\nMinistry of Foreign Affairs. ANSSI said Nobelium tried to install Cobalt Strike — a penetration testing tool\r\nnotorious for being abused by malicious actors — to gain remote access to the network, although this was\r\nunsuccessful.\r\nOther incidents disclosed by ANSSI included a French diplomat's compromised email account being used to send\r\na malicious message falsely announcing the closure of the French Embassy in South Africa due to an unspecified\r\nterror attack.\r\n“In May 2023, an attempt by Nobelium operators to compromise the French Embassy in Romania was detected\r\nbut was also unsuccessful thanks to the appropriate behavior of the diplomatic staff,” stated ANSSI.\r\nThe hackers are focused on capturing strategic intelligence from their government and diplomatic targets, said the\r\nFrench alert. However a number of technology companies have also disclosed being targeted and compromised by\r\nthe same operators.\r\nEarlier this year, Microsoft confirmed that Nobelium had successfully compromised the email accounts of the\r\ncompany’s senior leaders. Around the same time, Hewlett Packard Enterprise also reported a similar breach. \r\n“The targeting of IT and cybersecurity entities for espionage purposes by Nobelium operators potentially\r\nstrengthen their offensive capabilities and the threat they represent. The intelligence gathered during recent attacks\r\nhttps://therecord.media/france-anssi-warning-russia-hacking-campaign-svr\r\nPage 1 of 2\n\nagainst IT sector entities could also facilitate Nobelium’s future operations,” warned ANSSI.\r\nThe agency said it has observed “a high level of activities linked to Nobelium against the recent backdrop of\r\ngeopolitical tensions, especially in Europe, in relation to Russia’s aggression against Ukraine. Nobelium’s\r\nactivities against government and diplomatic entities represent a national security concern and endanger French\r\nand European diplomatic interests.”\r\nAlexander Martin\r\nis the UK Editor for Recorded Future News. He was previously a technology reporter for Sky News and a fellow\r\nat the European Cyber Conflict Research Initiative, now Virtual Routes. He can be reached securely using Signal\r\non: AlexanderMartin.79\r\nSource: https://therecord.media/france-anssi-warning-russia-hacking-campaign-svr\r\nhttps://therecord.media/france-anssi-warning-russia-hacking-campaign-svr\r\nPage 2 of 2", "extraction_quality": 1, "language": "EN", "sources": [ "ETDA" ], "references": [ "https://therecord.media/france-anssi-warning-russia-hacking-campaign-svr" ], "report_names": [ "france-anssi-warning-russia-hacking-campaign-svr" ], "threat_actors": [ { "id": "b43e5ea9-d8c8-4efa-b5bf-f1efb37174ba", "created_at": "2022-10-25T16:07:24.36191Z", "updated_at": "2026-04-10T02:00:04.954902Z", "deleted_at": null, "main_name": "UNC2452", "aliases": [ "Dark Halo", "Nobelium", "SolarStorm", "StellarParticle", "UNC2452" ], "source_name": "ETDA:UNC2452", "tools": [], "source_id": "ETDA", "reports": null }, { "id": "610a7295-3139-4f34-8cec-b3da40add480", "created_at": "2023-01-06T13:46:38.608142Z", "updated_at": "2026-04-10T02:00:03.03764Z", "deleted_at": null, "main_name": "Cobalt", "aliases": [ "Cobalt Group", "Cobalt Gang", "GOLD KINGSWOOD", "COBALT SPIDER", "G0080", "Mule Libra" ], "source_name": "MISPGALAXY:Cobalt", "tools": [], "source_id": "MISPGALAXY", "reports": null }, { "id": "1d3f9dec-b033-48a5-8b1e-f67a29429e89", "created_at": "2022-10-25T15:50:23.739197Z", "updated_at": "2026-04-10T02:00:05.275809Z", "deleted_at": null, "main_name": "UNC2452", "aliases": [ "UNC2452", "NOBELIUM", "StellarParticle", "Dark Halo" ], "source_name": "MITRE:UNC2452", "tools": [ "Sibot", "Mimikatz", "Cobalt Strike", "AdFind", "GoldMax" ], "source_id": "MITRE", "reports": null }, { "id": "a241a1ca-2bc9-450b-a07b-aae747ee2710", "created_at": "2024-06-19T02:03:08.150052Z", "updated_at": "2026-04-10T02:00:03.737173Z", "deleted_at": null, "main_name": "IRON RITUAL", "aliases": [ "APT29", "Blue Dev 5 ", "BlueBravo ", "Cloaked Ursa ", "CozyLarch ", "Dark Halo ", "Midnight Blizzard ", "NOBELIUM ", "StellarParticle ", "UNC2452 " ], "source_name": "Secureworks:IRON RITUAL", "tools": [ "Brute Ratel C4", "Cobalt Strike", "EnvyScout", "GoldFinder", "GoldMax", "NativeZone", "RAINDROP", "SUNBURST", "Sibot", "TEARDROP", "VaporRage" ], "source_id": "Secureworks", "reports": null }, { "id": "46b3c0fc-fa0c-4d63-a38a-b33a524561fb", "created_at": "2023-01-06T13:46:38.393409Z", "updated_at": "2026-04-10T02:00:02.955738Z", "deleted_at": null, "main_name": "APT29", "aliases": [ "Cloaked Ursa", "TA421", "Blue Kitsune", "BlueBravo", "IRON HEMLOCK", "G0016", "Nobelium", "Group 100", "YTTRIUM", "Grizzly Steppe", "ATK7", "ITG11", "COZY BEAR", "The Dukes", "Minidionis", "UAC-0029", "SeaDuke" ], "source_name": "MISPGALAXY:APT29", "tools": [ "SNOWYAMBER", "HALFRIG", "QUARTERRIG" ], "source_id": "MISPGALAXY", "reports": null }, { "id": "70872c3a-e788-4b55-a7d6-b2df52001ad0", "created_at": "2023-01-06T13:46:39.18401Z", "updated_at": "2026-04-10T02:00:03.239111Z", "deleted_at": null, "main_name": "UNC2452", "aliases": [ "DarkHalo", "StellarParticle", "NOBELIUM", "Solar Phoenix", "Midnight Blizzard" ], "source_name": "MISPGALAXY:UNC2452", "tools": [ "SNOWYAMBER", "HALFRIG", "QUARTERRIG" ], "source_id": "MISPGALAXY", "reports": null }, { "id": "20d3a08a-3b97-4b2f-90b8-92a89089a57a", "created_at": "2022-10-25T15:50:23.548494Z", "updated_at": "2026-04-10T02:00:05.292748Z", "deleted_at": null, "main_name": "APT29", "aliases": [ "APT29", "IRON RITUAL", "IRON HEMLOCK", "NobleBaron", "Dark Halo", "NOBELIUM", "UNC2452", "YTTRIUM", "The Dukes", "Cozy Bear", "CozyDuke", "SolarStorm", "Blue Kitsune", "UNC3524", "Midnight Blizzard" ], "source_name": "MITRE:APT29", "tools": [ "PinchDuke", "ROADTools", "WellMail", "CozyCar", "Mimikatz", "Tasklist", "OnionDuke", "FatDuke", "POSHSPY", "EnvyScout", "SoreFang", "GeminiDuke", "reGeorg", "GoldMax", "FoggyWeb", "SDelete", "PolyglotDuke", "AADInternals", "MiniDuke", "SeaDuke", "Sibot", "RegDuke", "CloudDuke", "GoldFinder", "AdFind", "PsExec", "NativeZone", "Systeminfo", "ipconfig", "Impacket", "Cobalt Strike", "PowerDuke", "QUIETEXIT", "HAMMERTOSS", "BoomBox", "CosmicDuke", "WellMess", "VaporRage", "LiteDuke" ], "source_id": "MITRE", "reports": null }, { "id": "f27790ff-4ee0-40a5-9c84-2b523a9d3270", "created_at": "2022-10-25T16:07:23.341684Z", "updated_at": "2026-04-10T02:00:04.549917Z", "deleted_at": null, "main_name": "APT 29", "aliases": [ "APT 29", "ATK 7", "Blue Dev 5", "BlueBravo", "Cloaked Ursa", "CloudLook", "Cozy Bear", "Dark Halo", "Earth Koshchei", "G0016", "Grizzly Steppe", "Group 100", "ITG11", "Iron Hemlock", "Iron Ritual", "Midnight Blizzard", "Minidionis", "Nobelium", "NobleBaron", "Operation Ghost", "Operation Office monkeys", "Operation StellarParticle", "SilverFish", "Solar Phoenix", "SolarStorm", "StellarParticle", "TEMP.Monkeys", "The Dukes", "UNC2452", "UNC3524", "Yttrium" ], "source_name": "ETDA:APT 29", "tools": [ "7-Zip", "ATI-Agent", "AdFind", "Agentemis", "AtNow", "BEATDROP", "BotgenStudios", "CEELOADER", "Cloud Duke", "CloudDuke", "CloudLook", "Cobalt Strike", "CobaltStrike", "CosmicDuke", "Cozer", "CozyBear", "CozyCar", "CozyDuke", "Danfuan", "EnvyScout", "EuroAPT", "FatDuke", "FoggyWeb", "GeminiDuke", "Geppei", "GoldFinder", "GoldMax", "GraphDrop", "GraphicalNeutrino", "GraphicalProton", "HAMMERTOSS", "HammerDuke", "LOLBAS", "LOLBins", "LiteDuke", "Living off the Land", "MagicWeb", "Mimikatz", "MiniDionis", "MiniDuke", "NemesisGemina", "NetDuke", "OnionDuke", "POSHSPY", "PinchDuke", "PolyglotDuke", "PowerDuke", "QUIETEXIT", "ROOTSAW", "RegDuke", "Rubeus", "SNOWYAMBER", "SPICYBEAT", "SUNSHUTTLE", "SeaDaddy", "SeaDask", "SeaDesk", "SeaDuke", "Sharp-SMBExec", "SharpView", "Sibot", "Solorigate", "SoreFang", "TinyBaron", "WINELOADER", "WellMail", "WellMess", "cobeacon", "elf.wellmess", "reGeorg", "tDiscoverer" ], "source_id": "ETDA", "reports": null } ], "ts_created_at": 1775434549, "ts_updated_at": 1775792253, "ts_creation_date": 0, "ts_modification_date": 0, "files": { "pdf": "https://archive.orkl.eu/c624aa229ea1214fb052d8eb1d8f9d4d9a0cd357.pdf", "text": "https://archive.orkl.eu/c624aa229ea1214fb052d8eb1d8f9d4d9a0cd357.txt", "img": "https://archive.orkl.eu/c624aa229ea1214fb052d8eb1d8f9d4d9a0cd357.jpg" } }