US Government Offers $10 Million Bounty for Russian Hackers Targeting Signal and WhatsApp
The bounty signals the US government's assessment that Russian intelligence services are systematically exploiting standard features of encrypted messaging apps to surveil government personnel and allies, and that the threat is active and ongoing.
Reporting from 1 sources: GIGAZINE.
The US government has announced a reward of up to $10 million for information leading to the identification of two Russian-linked hacking groups, UNC5792 and UNC4221, which compromised thousands of Signal and WhatsApp accounts by exploiting linked-device features and phishing for recovery keys. Targets included US and NATO officials, journalists, and NGOs supporting Ukraine.
The US government is offering up to $10 million for information on two hacking groups tied to Russian intelligence that compromised thousands of Signal and WhatsApp accounts. The groups, designated UNC5792 and UNC4221, are linked to the FSB Border Guard Service and Russian military intelligence, respectively. They exploited Signal's Linked Devices feature to sync messages without the user's knowledge and used compromised accounts to launch further phishing attacks. In some cases, they tampered with Signal's group invite page to redirect users to malicious URLs. Attackers also posed as official messages to trick victims into handing over recovery keys. Targets included US and NATO government officials, diplomats, defense personnel, journalists covering Russia and Ukraine, and NGOs supporting Ukraine.
Synthesized by Yomimono from the 1 cited source below, including Japanese-language reporting where cited, then editorially reviewed before publishing.