Microsoft: Russia-linked hacking group targeted sports organizations, anti-doping agencies
A notorious hacking group widely suspected of being linked to the Russian government has targeted 16 sports and anti-doping organizations across three continents, Microsoft alleged Monday.
The accusation, via Microsoft’s Threat Intelligence Center, says some of the attacks — originating from a hacking group called Strontium, also known as Fancy Bear/APT2 — were successful but the majority were not.
Per Microsoft VP of customer security and trust Tom Burt:
“Today we’re sharing that the Microsoft Threat Intelligence Center has recently tracked significant cyberattacks originating from a group we call Strontium, also known as Fancy Bear/APT28, targeting anti-doping authorities and sporting organizations around the world. As the world looks forward with anticipation to the Tokyo Summer Games in 2020, we thought it important to share information about this new round of activity.”
Microsoft didn’t identify the anti-doping agencies and sports organizations that were targeted, but the U.S. has charged Russian intelligence officers with hacking anti-doping organizations in 2018.
A week after Microsoft says the hackers began attacking in September, the World Anti-Doping agency said it found “inconsistencies” in lab data provided to the agency from a lab in Moscow. At the time, WADA gave Russian authorities three weeks to respond to the inconsistencies.
A spokesman for the World Anti-Doping Agency told Bloomberg News that the agency was aware of Microsoft’s findings but that there was “no evidence of any breach of WADA’s systems having occurred.”
Burt, in a blog post, says the attacks, which began Sept. 16, used methods similar to previous attacks by Strontium against targets including governments, militaries and financial firms. The methods included spearfishing attacks, exploiting internet-connected devices and using open-source and custom malware, Burt said.
Russia was accused of operating a state-sponsored doping program before, during and after the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.
More than 100 Russian athletes were barred from competing in the 2016 Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro after a resulting report from WADA.
Russian athletes later were banned entirely from the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea, though some exceptions were made for athletes to compete under the identification of Olympic Athlete from Russia while not officially representing the country.
Monday’s report from Microsoft comes after a WADA committee, scheduled to meet on Oct. 23 to determine whether to pursue more serious bans against Russian sports federations, delayed the meeting so investigators could have more time to examine lab data and Russian authorities’ possible explanation, Yahoo Sports reported.
If the WADA committee eventually designates Russia as non-compliant, it could have far-reaching impacts.
A case likely would be brought before the Court of Arbitration for Sport, where if Russia were to lose the case, it would trigger an automatic suspension for the country across the sports world, not only in the upcoming 2020 Olympics in Japan but also the Russia’s ability to qualify for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
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