Journalists investigating Russia targeted by cyberattacks: ProtonMail

Reporters investigating Russian military intelligence have been targeted by highly sophisticated cyberattacks through their encrypted email accounts, with evidence suggesting Moscow was responsible, the email service provider ProtonMail and journalists said Saturday.

The phishing attack, which sought to dupe users into sharing their ProtonMail passwords, was aimed at journalists from the award-winning website Bellingcat, which helped identify the agents who poisoned former Russian spy Sergei Skripal in Britain.

Geneva-based ProtonMail said in a statement that "the evidence (along with independent third-party assessments) seem to suggest an attack of Russian origin." The company's chief executive Andy Yen told AFP that the operation "was one if the best-run phishing attacks we have ever seen."
Yen told AFP that "putting a precise start date as to when other Russia journalists began to be targeted is a bit more complex and not something that we can confirm with full confidence right now."