SSU and FBI Uncover Russian Cyber Espionage Operation Against Officials and Military Personnel

Pierluigi Paganini
June 29, 2026

Ukraine’s SSU and the FBI Just Confirmed Russian Intelligence Has Been Systematically Hacking Messenger Accounts for Years.

The Security Service of Ukraine (SSU), working jointly with the FBI, has formally exposed a sustained Russian intelligence campaign targeting the messaging accounts of government officials, military personnel, politicians, and activists across Ukraine, Europe, and the United States.

The operation is ongoing. The goal isn’t disruption; it’s intelligence collection.

“Cyber experts of the Security Service of Ukraine together with the Federal Bureau of Investigation exposed Russian special services in systematic cyberattacks on messengers of officials, military personnel, politicians and activists from Ukraine, Europe and the USA.” read the alert by SSU.

“The purpose of these ‘hacks’ is to gain access to sensitive information of a military, political and economic nature that was exchanged between users, as well as to steal their personal data.”

The attack method is low-tech by design. Operators send SMS messages impersonating platform support bots, asking targets to hand over account credentials, confirmation codes, PINs, or account recovery keys. The SBU notes that these messages tend to arrive in the morning hours, when targets are physically and emotionally less guarded. Timing is a social engineering choice, not an accident.

The scope is broader than most people assume.

“The SBU emphasizes that Russian special services and hackers associated with them attack not only organizations, officials or public figures, but also personal accounts of Ukrainians.” continues the alert.

This isn’t a targeted elite program. It’s a mass collection operation with a tiered approach: high-value targets get more…

Source

SSU and FBI Uncover Russian Cyber Espionage Operation Against Officials and Military Personnel