As Russia’s invasion of Ukraine enters its third year, the formidable Sandworm (aka FROZENBARENTS, APT44) cyber threat group remains highly active and increasingly integrated with Russian conventional military operations in support of Moscow’s war aims.
However, Sandworm’s disruptive operations now span globally across Russian political, military, and economic interests.
With 2024 seeing record participation in national elections, the group’s history of attempting to interfere in democratic processes elevates potential near-term threats.
Recently, cybersecurity researchers at Google’s Threat Intelligence team unveiled that Russian APT44 is the most notorious cyber sabotage group globally.
Russian APT44 Most Notorious Gang
The operationally mature APT44 (Sandworm) which is sponsored by Russian military intelligence infrastructure, carries out the full range of spying, warfare, and influencing operations – something that is quite unique to state groups who often specialize.
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Russia’s “information confrontation” cyber warfare doctrine necessitates these abilities.
In pursuit of this, APT44 has actively sought to create several initiatives that would end up giving Russia an upper hand during times of war, Mandiant said.
During the early stages of the invasion, it ran a fierce campaign with wiper malware against Ukrainian critical infrastructure, sometimes aligned with kinetic strikes.
As the war proceeded, APT44 switched its interest towards intelligence gathering and launched campaigns to extract data from captured devices that could be used as intelligence sources for Russian forces at the front line.
The group’s changing strategy illustrates flexibility in support of Moscow’s military goals.
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As an arm of Russian military intelligence, APT44’s sabotage operations extend beyond military objectives to support the Kremlin’s broader national interests like political signaling, crisis response, and preserving perceived global reputation.
This has resulted in historically consequential attacks like disrupting Ukraine’s power grid in 2015-2016, the global NotPetya strike on Ukraine’s Constitution Day 2017, and the disruption of the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics opening ceremony over Russia’s doping ban.Â
With high capabilities, risk tolerance, and a far-reaching mandate backing Russian foreign policy across governments, civil society, and critical infrastructure globally, APT44 presents a severe, persistent threat wherever Russian interests intersect.
Its aggressive cyber offense increases new attack concepts, likely lowering barriers for other state and non-state actors, a risk Russia itself appears concerned about based on observed defensive exercises.
APT44 is a well-known Russian-based advanced persistent threat group constituting a critical and growing international cyber threat.
For ten years, this group has been at the forefront when it comes to conducting cyber-attacks that are aimed at promoting the nationalist agenda of Russia, which focuses mainly on elections, sports events, and geopolitics.
The Ukraine war still continues, but APT44 has not shifted its concentration from the region as it may further the Kremlin’s global strategic goals, consequently perhaps impacting political dynamics, elections, and matters surrounding Russian neighboring countries.
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