Relocated media outlet "Zmist Tyzhnya" targeted by hackers

The online media outlet "Zmist Tyzhnya", relocated from Severodonetsk (Luhansk oblast), faced a wave of cyberattacks targeting journalists and their accounts.

The outlet's media manager Olena Nizhelska reported this to the Institute of Mass Information representative in Luhansk oblast.

According to her, one of the main threats were the attempts to get unauthorized access to the team's email inboxes.

"Moreover, there were cases of our Telegram accounts being hacked, which caused additional harm to our team's security. These attacks usually begin with our journalists receiving 'innocent' messages asking them to vote for someone's child in an art competition. After the victim clicks the link, the criminals gain full access to their account, including all contact information," Olena Nizhelska explained.

Once the account is hijacked, she added, the scammers use it to send fake messages to the victim's entire contact list, addressing the recipients by name and asking them to lend a little money for a short period of time.

“It adds a personal and trusting tone to the messages. The personalization misleads even those who are used to suspicious requests, because they seem to be sent from legit sources," noted Olena Nizhelska.

She added that such attacks not only jeopardize the journalists' privacy, but also undermine trust in their communication channels and create risks for other people who fall into the scammers' trap.