Hackers Target WHO By Posing As Think Tank, Broadcaster (bloomberg.com) 15
Two of the messages sent to the WHO, which were reviewed by Bloomberg News, were designed to look like coronavirus newsletters from the British Broadcasting Corporation. A third message was tailored to look like an interview request from the American Foreign Policy Council, a conservative think tank based in Washington. It encouraged recipients to click on what looked to be a shortened Google link, which diverted to a malicious domain. Ohad Zaidenberg, lead cyber intelligence researcher at Clearsky Cyber Security, reviewed the messages for Bloomberg News, and said he believed they were sent by a group of state-sponsored Iranian hackers known as "Charming Kitten," which has been active since 2014 and previously targeted Iranian dissidents, academics, journalists and human rights activists. Flavio Aggio, the WHO's chief information security officer, confirmed the "very clever attacks" but said they'd so far been unsuccessful. "We are dealing with an information war and a cyberwar at the same time," he added.