Fancybear

Fancybear, also known as APT28, Forest Blizzard, or Strontium, is a threat actor linked to Russia that has been involved in various cyber espionage operations. These operations have targeted European countries and have been condemned by both NATO and the European Union. This group has demonstrated advanced capabilities, such as the use of a previously unknown tool called GooseEgg, which was used to exploit the Windows Print Spooler flaw CVE-2022-38028. Microsoft reported this activity, leading to the addition of the flaw to the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog by the Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). The group's activities date back to at least September-October 2021, when it conducted a global phishing operation. Mandiant, Google Cloud's threat intelligence division, refers to this group as Frozenlake but acknowledges its common identification as Fancybear. Furthermore, a hacker using the name Fancybear - possibly unrelated to the Russian hacking group - made a for sale post on a popular clear web hacking forum on March 10, suggesting the group's involvement in data selling. Mandiant has reported with high confidence that the group, under another alias CyberArmyofRussia_Reborn, coordinates with Russia's GRU military intelligence service, possibly distributing information stolen by APT28. This assessment indicates the potential state-sponsored nature of Fancybear's activities and their integration within broader Russian cyber-espionage efforts. Such findings underscore the significant threat posed by Fancybear and the need for continued vigilance and robust cybersecurity measures.