What is Fancy Bear?

So, according to Wikipedia,

Fancy Bear (also known as APT28, Pawn Storm, Sofacy Group, Sednit and STRONTIUM) is a cyber espionage group. Cybersecurity firm Crowdstrike has said with a medium level of confidence that it is associated with the Russian military intelligence agency GRU. Security firms SecureWorks, ThreatConnect and Fireeye's Mandiant have also said the group is sponsored by the Russian government. In 2018, an indictment by the United States Special Counsel identified Fancy Bear as two GRU units known as Unit 26165 and Unit 74455

Likely operating since the mid-2000s, Fancy Bear's methods are consistent with the capabilities of nation-state actors. The threat group is known to target government, military, and security organizations, especially Transcaucasian and Nato-aligned states. Fancy Bear is thought to be responsible for cyber attacks on the German Parliament, the French television station TV5Monde, the White House, NATO, the Democratic National Committee, Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe and the campaign of French presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron.

The group serves the political interests of the Russian government, which includes helping foreign candidates that are favored by it to win elections (such as when they leaked Hillary Clinton's emails to help gain traction for Donald Trump during the United States 2016 elections).

Attacks

• Attacks on prominent journalists in Russia, United States, Ukraine, Moldova, the Baltics, and elsewhere

• From mid-2014 until the fall of 2017, Fancy Bear targeted numerous journalists in the United States, Ukraine, Russia, Moldova, the Baltics, and other countries that had provided articles discrediting Putin and the Kremlin. 

• German attack (2014)

• U.S. military wives' death threats (February 10, 2015)

• French television hack (April 2015)

• Root9B report (May 2015)

• EFF spoof, White House and NATO attack (August 2015)

• World Anti-Doping Agency (August 2016)

• Dutch Safety Board and Bellingcat

• Democratic National Committee (2016)

• Ukrainian artillery

• Dutch ministries (February 2017)

• IAAF hack (February 2017)

• German and French elections (2016–2017)

• International Olympic Committee (2018)

• Swedish Sports Confederation

• United States conservative groups (2018)

Published on 22nd August 2018.