In the wake of the Ukraine-Russia conflict, cyber-criminals have begun to impersonate legitimate aid organisations in order to steal financial donations intended for the Ukrainian people.
The discovery comes from new research by managed detection and response provider, Expel.
The company’s security operations centre (SOC) analysed attack vectors and incident trends for its February Attack Vectors Threat Report, finding several phishing emails referencing the invasion of Ukraine to target cryptocurrency.
Subjects lines of malicious emails included “Help save the children in Ukraine,” “Ukraine Donations” and “Help – Bitcoin.”
Some threat actors even went as far as impersonating Aronov Maxim, a doctor at Smile Children’s Hospital in Ukraine. This particular email informed victims that a children’s clinic had been destroyed in the Russian invasion and that financial aid was needed to “to help the sick and wounded children.”
“It’s horrible that bad actors are trying to take advantage of the crisis in Ukraine for personal gain,” said Jon Hencinski, director of global operations at Expel.
