Russian Hackers Bypass Two-Factor Authentication

April 26, 2022

Russian-backed hackers pose a huge cyberthreat to America on a daily basis. Now, that threat is especially elevated due to Putin’s unyielding attack, crossing western red lines by invading Ukraine.

“Cyber is a capability that Russian security forces have used in the past and as the decision calculus changes, that may change what’s in play,” former Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency director Chris Krebs said.

Two-factor authentication, also referred to as 2FA, is a vital aspect to secure accounts and data. However, it is not flawless. Russian hackers have successfully beaten the secure system by disguising their access, pretending to be legitimate account holders.

Hackers exploited accounts as early as May 2021 that were linked to an unnamed non-governmental organization. In the breach, hackers accessed sensitive data, according to a report from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the United States Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA).

Victims were mostly those with weak passwords or long-dormant accounts. Once the hackers were able to break into the accounts, they enabled 2FA. After the systems viewed the hackers as legitimate, they ran widespread viruses. One of which was the “PrintNightmare” Windows Print Spooler vulnerability.

Roughly three-quarters of ransomware money ended up in the hands of Russians, according to the BBC.

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Written by the digital marketing staff at Creative Programs & Systems: www.cpsmi.com.