FBI Warns Russian Hackers Target Signal, WhatsApp in Mass Phishing Attacks
Mar 21, 2026
Cyber Espionage / Threat Intelligence
Threat actors affiliated with Russian Intelligence Services are conducting phishing campaigns to compromise commercial messaging applications (CMAs) like WhatsApp and Signal to seize control of accounts belonging to individuals with high intelligence value, the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) said Friday. "The campaign targets individuals of high intelligence value, including current and former U.S. government officials, military personnel, political figures, and journalists," FBI Director Kash Patel said in a post on X. "Globally, this effort has resulted in unauthorized access to thousands of individual accounts. After gaining access, the actors can view messages and contact lists, send messages as the victim, and conduct additional phishing from a trusted identity." It's worth noting that the attacks are designed to break into the victims' CMA accounts through phishing and do not ...