Syrian hackers posed as women to steal plans

Pro-government Syrian hackers posed as women on Skype and used custom-designed malware to gather vast troves of data on opposition forces looking to topple Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad’s regime.

A report released Monday by security firm FireEye details how hackers were able to collect information on rebel battle plans and individual opposition fighters, track the movement of displaced refugees and gather details about humanitarian efforts.

{mosads}The discovery unveils a new type of cyberattack and a new realm of cyber warfare that should put U.S. forces on alert, said Tony Cole, global government chief technology officer at FireEye, in an interview.

“There’s just some new ground being broken in this area,” he said. “I’m quite sure that this type of targeting has taken place against U.S. military forces.”

The pro-Assad hackers lured their opposition targets into communicating by posing as females on Skype. Over time, these “women” would develop relationships with the targets, who ranged from opposition fighters, to media activists, to humanitarian aid workers.

“Once they’d established a visible rapport, [the hackers] flat-out asked them, ‘How are you communicating with me? Are you on a computer or a phone?” Cole said.

The digital thieves would then design custom malware and send it to the target disguised as a “personal” photo.

“Once the target downloaded the malware-laden photo,” the report said, “the threat group accessed his device, rifled through files and selected and stole data identifying opposition members, their Skype chat logs and contacts, and scores of documents that shed valuable insight into military operations planned against President Assad’s forces.”

From at least November 2013 to January 2014, hackers lifted 7.7 gigabytes of data, enough information “to fill a room full of encyclopedias in text form,” Cole said.

It’s an advanced and effective form of cyber warfare not previously seen, he added.

“We need to continue moving down the path of looking at this as a new domain that the adversary is looking at,” he said. “We’re going to need advanced technologies to actually thwart these attacks, and at the same time it’s critically important that we have user awareness at all levels.”

Syria has been embroiled in a civil war since early 2011.

The U.S. has funneled more than $3 billion in humanitarian aid to Syria since the start of the conflict, which has displaced over 10 million Syrians and caused roughly 200,000 deaths. The administration has also supported various Syrian rebel groups, including a Pentagon program to train and arm more moderate opposition forces.