A new wave of cyber-espionage attacks targets NGOs, particularly press freedom advocates, using sophisticated spear-phishing campaigns linked to Russian state-sponsored hackers. The Calisto group, attributed to the FSB, employs advanced social engineering and custom attack tools to target entities supporting Ukraine. #Calisto #ReportersWithoutBorders #RussianIntelligence
Keypoints
- Russian state-sponsored group Calisto is behind targeted spear-phishing campaigns against NGOs like RSF.
- The attacks involve impersonation of trusted contacts and psychological tricks to lower victim defenses.
- The attackers route their traffic through residential proxies, such as the Big Mama Proxy service.
- NGOs involved in Ukraine or related intelligence work are primary targets of these cyber-espionage activities.
li>Calisto uses highly customized, homemade phishing kits with AiTM techniques to bypass security measures.