U.S. and U.K. governments claimed that Russia’s military cyber unit has developed cyclops blink malware as a potential cyberwarfare weapon. This malware replaces weaker VPNFilter code a deadlier killer of a new home and office network.
U.S. and U.K. governments published a joint report where they mentioned that Russia has been deploying this wild malware since 2019 which is mainly applied to destroy remotely compromised network devices. It primarily attracts the small office or home office (SOHO) routers. The network-attached storage (NAS) devices are the main target of this malware.
Before the invasion of neighboring Ukraine, the special cyber activity report was published. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), and National Security Agency (NSA) warned about the cyber intrusions. Previously Russian state-sponsored cybercriminals stole sensitive, unclassified information by using this malware.
Cyber expert Rick Holland said, “However, compromising routers provide the Russians with a useful DDoS tool to distract and disrupt their adversaries while also providing a level of plausible deniability. Russia has used botnets in the past; in 2018, the FBI took a botnet associated with the VPNFilter malware offline.”
He also said, “Disinformation, false flags, DDoS attacks, and destructive wiper malware are a part of Russian military doctrine. The battle plans have been drawn up and are now being executed.”