WSJ: Iranian Hackers Caused Losses in Hundreds of Millions

A two-year cyberattack campaign linked to Iranians targeted more than 200 corporations around the world and caused damage estimated at hundreds of millions of dollars, reports The Wall Street Journal.

Researchers for tech giant Microsoft told the Journal attackers stole corporate secrets and erased computer data, and targeted oil-and-gas companies, heavy-machinery manufacturers and international companies in Saudi Arabia, Germany, India, Britain and the United States.

“These destructive attacks…are massively destabilizing events,” John Lambert, the head of Microsoft’s Threat Intelligence Center, told the Journal.

The campaign was traced to a group Microsoft calls Holmium, a group linked to Iran, and researchers said hacking was done for Holmium by another Iranian group known as APT33.

The Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency in January issued a warning about the cyberattack following a warning by U.S. cybersecurity firm FireEye of a global DNS hijacking campaign.

Microsoft says Holmium targeted more than 2,200 people with phishing emails.

“They’re definitely sharpening their skills and moving up their capabilities,” John Hultquist, director of intelligence analysis at FireEye, told the Journal. “When they turn their attention back to the United States, we may be surprised by how much more advanced they are.”

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