Russian-linked hackers are trying to break into the Signal and WhatsApp accounts of government officials, journalists, and military personnel globally – not by cracking encryption, but by simply tricking people into handing over the keys.
That’s the warning issued Monday by the Netherlands’ intelligence and military security agencies, the AIVD and MIVD, which say a “large-scale” Russian cyber campaign is actively targeting Signal and WhatsApp accounts. The goal isn’t to defeat the apps’ end-to-end encryption, but to take over the accounts themselves and quietly read whatever conversations are inside.
Read more…
Source: The Register News
Sign up for the Cyber Security Review Newsletter
The latest cyber security news and insights delivered right to your inbox
Related:
- French naval officer’s jogging app logs Inadvertently expose France’s aircraft carrier location
March 20, 2026
The relentless pursuit of a personal best is a common motivator for athletes, but for one French naval officer, a routine morning run has now been linked to a national security scare. While the French military typically prides itself on stealth and strategic positioning, the precise coordinates of its flagship were recently broadcast worldwide via a ...
- Cambodia: 9 foreigners nabbed in Phnom Penh cyber-scam raid
March 20, 2026
Eight Chinese nationals and one Malaysian were detained during a raid on a gated community in the capital on Wednesday. A joint force from the Phnom Penh Administrative Unified Command raided a property in the Borey Peng Huot development, located in the Niroth area of Chbar Ampov district. During the operation, officers seized 247 mobile phones ...
- CISA urges companies to secure Microsoft Intune systems after hackers mass-wipe Stryker devices
March 19, 2026
The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has warned companies to secure systems for managing their fleets of employee devices after pro-Iran hackers broke into medical tech giant Stryker and mass-wiped thousands of its phones, tablets, and computers. The agency said on Thursday that it was urging companies to take action and confirmed it was ...
- DarkSword: Second iOS exploit chain in a month targeting iPhone users
March 18, 2026
A new exploit kit targeting iPhone users and stealing their sensitive data is being abused by “multiple” spyware vendors and suspected nation-state goons, security researchers said on Wednesday. The exploit kit, called DarkSword, has been in use since at least November 2025. It supports iOS versions 18.4 through 18.7, and exploits six different vulnerabilities to deploy ...
- Over 29 million secrets were leaked on GitHub in 2025, and AI really isn’t helping
March 18, 2026
Vibe-coding may seem great for quickly shipping products, but inexperienced developers are leaving gaping cybersecurity holes that are causing breaches and exposures left and right. This is according to GitGuardian’s latest report, the “State of Secrets Sprawl” paper that was just released. In the research document, the organization said 2025 was the year when AI adoption ...
- Unpacking a new Horabot campaign in Mexico
March 18, 2026
In this instalment of Kaspersky SOC Files series, Kaspersky researchers will walk you through a targeted campaign that our MDR team identified and hunted down a few months ago. It involves a threat known as Horabot, a bundle consisting of an infamous banking Trojan, an email spreader, and a notably complex attack chain. Although previous research ...