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Amazon Blocks Kremlin Cyberattack: Russian Hackers Targeted US Cloud Accounts
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![Photo of Vlad Litnarovych]( "Photo of Vlad Litnarovych")
Amazon’s security intelligence unit has disrupted a cyber-espionage campaign by APT29, a Kremlin-linked hacking group also known as “Midnight Blizzard”, Ukraine’s Center for Countering Disinformation (CCD) reported on September 1.
According to the statement, the Russian operation targeted US government institutions, media outlets, universities, and nonprofit organizations in an effort to steal sensitive information.
“Amazon’s intelligence team disrupted a campaign by the APT29 hacker group (also known as Midnight Blizzard), linked to Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service. Hackers compromised legitimate websites and injected code that redirected some visitors to fake pages designed to mimic Cloudflare services,” the center said.
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“There, users were tricked into ‘authorizing’ the attackers’ devices. As a result, the criminals gained access to victims’ emails and cloud-stored files,” CCD added.
Officials stressed that this was not an isolated breach, but part of a systematic espionage effort. Instead of directly breaking into systems, the hackers manipulated victims into authorizing access through legitimate Microsoft and Google authentication processes.
Ukraine’s disinformation watchdog said Russia’s broader aim was to collect intelligence on US institutions and civil society groups. These operations, it warned, are not simple cybercrimes but a tool of state-backed espionage designed to pressure Western governments.
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“Such attacks should be seen as an element of hybrid interference in the internal processes of the US and its allies, rather than ordinary cybercrime,” the statement concluded.
Earlier, reports emerged that hackers associated with Russia’s cyber espionage units have been exploiting a vulnerability in outdated Cisco Corporation software, targeting thousands of networking devices critical to global infrastructure. The breach, which has spanned over the last year, was revealed by both the FBI and Cisco.
