Cozy Bear hackers suspected of working for Russian intelligence have attacked dozens of diplomats at embassies in Ukraine with a used car ad, according to a Palo Alto report, available to Reuters.
According to Reuters, hackers drew attention to the announcement of a Polish diplomat who was selling his used BMW car. They copied his ad, inserted a malicious link there (which worked if the user tried to upload photos), set a lower and more attractive price, and sent this ad to diplomatic officials.
Their espionage activities have been directed against diplomats working in at least 22 of the roughly 80 foreign missions in Kiev, the analysts report said, and is "staggering in its scale" because such operations are usually targeted and covert. Whether the hackers succeeded in achieving their goals is not specified.
A Polish diplomat (who has not been named) confirmed to Reuters that he sent out advertisements for the sale of the car. He said that he suspected something was wrong when people began to contact him interested in buying a car, but everyone called a different price. Now the diplomat plans to sell the car in Poland: "After this situation, I don't want to have any more problems."