A pro-Russian hacker group known as Vermin has launched a new cyberattack campaign against Ukraine, using the ongoing conflict as a pretext to infect devices with malicious software. According to a recent report from Kyiv’s cyber agency, the group is leveraging lures tied to Ukraine’s military actions in the border regions to deceive victims into downloading malware.
The Vermin hackers have been circulating emails containing images of alleged Russian war criminals from the Kursk region, an area that has recently come under Ukrainian assault. These emails are designed to trick recipients into clicking on them, thereby unleashing the malware onto their systems.
Vermin is believed to be under the control of law enforcement agencies from the so-called Luhansk People’s Republic (LPR), a breakaway region in eastern Ukraine annexed by Russia in 2022. This hacker group is suspected of operating with direct support from the Kremlin, furthering Russia’s cyber warfare efforts against Ukraine.
On Monday, Ukraine’s Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-UA) revealed that Vermin has employed two malicious tools in this latest campaign: the previously identified Spectr spyware and a newly developed malware strain known as Firmachagent.
Spectr is capable of taking screenshots of the victim’s screen every 10 seconds, copying files with specific extensions, and stealing data from messaging apps and web browsers. Vermin has a history of using Spectr to spy on Ukraine’s defense industries and military forces.
The newly discovered Firmachagent malware is used to exfiltrate the stolen data to the hackers’ remote servers, according to CERT-UA. However, the report did not specify the number of devices compromised or the extent of the attack’s success.
In a related development last week, the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) issued a warning about Russia’s ongoing disinformation campaign. The Kremlin has been accused of spreading false narratives about Ukraine’s military operations in the Kursk region, even going so far as to accuse Ukrainian forces of committing war crimes. The SBU has cautioned that Russia might stage war crimes, particularly involving civilians, as part of its propaganda efforts.
The offensive in Kursk marks one of Ukraine’s most significant military operations since the full-scale war began nearly three years ago. In the aftermath of this attack, Kursk state officials reported that the region’s government, business websites, and critical infrastructure services were targeted by a “massive” distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack. Russia has also warned of Ukraine’s disinformation campaigns aimed at undermining their control in Kursk.
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