NITDA Warns Nigerians Of New Email-Based Attacks

The National Information Technology Development Agency has
warned about a new cyber threat that involves email-based attacks
by a notorious Russian hacking group called Nobelium.

This warning was contained in a press statement on Sunday by the
agency’s Head of Corporate Affairs and External Relations, Mrs.
Hadiza Umar, titled ‘NITDA cautions Nigerians on new email-based
attack From Solarwindhackers.’

Earlier, Microsoft had warned about the new cyber-attacks, which
are said to originate from the state-backed Russian hackers behind
the SolarWinds hacking against the United States and foreign
government agencies and think tanks.

About 3,000 email accounts at over 150 organizations were
targeted, especially organizations involving international
development, humanitarian, and human rights work.

The press statement read in part, “According to information
available as obtained by the National Information Technology
Development Agency, Microsoft, a world-renown multinational
technology company has uncovered a widespread malicious email
campaign undertaken by the hacking group- NOBELIUM.

“The cybercriminals leveraged the legitimate mass-mailing
service, to masquerade as a US-based development organisation and
distribute malicious URLs to a wide variety of organisations
especially government organisations, non-government organizations
(NGOs), think-tanks, military, IT service providers, health
technology and research, and telecommunications providers.

“Their antics involve the use of emails claiming to be an alert
from USAID about new documents published by former President Donald
Trump about ‘election fraud.’ Once users click the link in the
email, the URL would direct them to the legitimate Constant Contact
Service and then redirect to Nobelium-controlled infrastructure
through a URL that delivers a malicious ISO file. This, in turn,
enables the criminals to execute further malicious objectives, such
as lateral movement, data exfiltration, and delivery of additional
malware.”

NITDA further urged Nigerians to be cautious of such cyber
criminals, recommending ways to mitigate such email-based
attacks.

The National Information Technology Development Agency has
warned about a new cyber threat that involves email-based attacks
by a notorious Russian hacking group called Nobelium.

This warning was contained in a press statement on Sunday by the
agency’s Head of Corporate Affairs and External Relations, Mrs.
Hadiza Umar, titled ‘NITDA cautions Nigerians on new email-based
attack From Solarwindhackers.’

Earlier, Microsoft had warned about the new cyber-attacks, which
are said to originate from the state-backed Russian hackers behind
the SolarWinds hacking against the United States and foreign
government agencies and think tanks.

About 3,000 email accounts at over 150 organizations were
targeted, especially organizations involving international
development, humanitarian, and human rights work.

The press statement read in part, “According to information
available as obtained by the National Information Technology
Development Agency, Microsoft, a world-renown multinational
technology company has uncovered a widespread malicious email
campaign undertaken by the hacking group- NOBELIUM.

“The cybercriminals leveraged the legitimate mass-mailing
service, to masquerade as a US-based development organisation and
distribute malicious URLs to a wide variety of organisations
especially government organisations, non-government organizations
(NGOs), think-tanks, military, IT service providers, health
technology and research, and telecommunications providers.

“Their antics involve the use of emails claiming to be an alert
from USAID about new documents published by former President Donald
Trump about ‘election fraud.’ Once users click the link in the
email, the URL would direct them to the legitimate Constant Contact
Service and then redirect to Nobelium-controlled infrastructure
through a URL that delivers a malicious ISO file. This, in turn,
enables the criminals to execute further malicious objectives, such
as lateral movement, data exfiltration, and delivery of additional
malware.”

NITDA further urged Nigerians to be cautious of such cyber
criminals, recommending ways to mitigate such email-based
attacks.