Russian hackers stole the logins of British government officials, data is being sold on the darknet for over 40,000 pounds

Russian hackers gained access to the credentials of UK government employees, including staff of the Foreign Office and British diplomatic missions abroad. The stolen logins and passwords are already being offered for sale on the darknet for over £40,000. This is reported by The Telegraph, writes UNN.

Details

According to the publication, the cyberattack, which researchers named FortiBleed, was carried out through a vulnerability in Fortinet cybersecurity systems. As a result, over 80,000 firewalls were compromised, allowing the attackers to gain access to sensitive government systems.

Among the stolen accounts are data from employees of the UK Foreign Office, IT specialists from British embassies in Thailand and Mauritius, as well as local government workers. According to The Telegraph, the logins and passwords could be used to infiltrate the internal systems of British state institutions.

Hospitals and critical infrastructure at risk

As the publication notes, among the stolen credentials are accesses to systems of the National Health Service (NHS), energy companies, and pharmaceutical suppliers. Experts warn that such data could be used for large-scale ransomware attacks.

The UK National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) confirmed the brute force attack and urged organizations using Fortinet equipment to immediately check their networks, change passwords, and isolate compromised devices.

Although there is no direct evidence of Russian state involvement in the attack, The Telegraph notes that the source code of the hacking tools is written in Russian, and British intelligence services have previously repeatedly warned of close ties between Russian intelligence agencies and hacker groups operating from the territory of the Russian Federation.