The cyber breach occurred in the period from August to September last year, when Putin said that Russia would be ready to use nuclear weapons for “defense”.
Hackers from the Russian group Cold River attacked 3 nuclear research laboratories in the USA. They created fake login pages for each institution and sent emails to scientists to force them to reveal their passwords.
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According to Internet records verified by Reuters and five cybersecurity experts, everything happened between August and September of last year, when Putin said that Russia would be ready to use nuclear weapons to “protect its territory”.
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Cold River then struck Brookhaven (BNL), Argonne (ANL), and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories (LLNL). The news agency has evidence that cybercriminals create fake login pages for each institution and send emails to nuclear scientists, trying to force them to reveal their passwords.
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Reuters could not determine why these laboratories were targeted or whether any hacking attempt was successful. A BNL representative declined to comment. LLNL did not respond to a request for comment. An ANL representative referred questions to the US Department of Energy, which declined to comment.
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