{
  "id": 19095764,
  "title": "Five 'professional' hacker groups linked to foreign intelligence agencies, governments",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/11/09/five-professional-hacker-groups-linked-to-foreign-intelligence",
  "topic": "tech",
  "section": "Tech",
  "published": "2026-11-09T05:13:17.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "New Straits Times",
    "slug": "new-straits-times",
    "url": "https://www.nst.com.my/news/nation/2026/11/1573858/five-professional-hacker-groups-linked-foreign-intelligence-agencies"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "At least five prominent hacker groups are believed to be affiliated with foreign intelligence agencies or governments, according to sources in Malaysia. These advanced persistent threat organizations are highly organized, well-funded, and maintain a covert presence within targeted networks for extended periods to extract sensitive data, generate revenue, or disrupt crucial services.\n\nOne of these groups, APT28, also known as Fancy Bear, is suspected to be connected to Russia's military intelligence unit 26165. This designation was attributed to the group in July 2018, following charges brought by the United States Department of Justice against twelve Russian military intelligence officers for their role in hacking the Democratic National Committee during the 2016 election and Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign. The same unit was also implicated in attacks on the World Anti-Doping Agency and the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons in October 2018.\n\nAnother notable group, APT29, or Cozy Bear, is believed to be linked to Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service. The United States government explicitly tied the SolarWinds supply chain attack, discovered in December 2020, to this group. The attack impacted nine federal agencies and approximately 100 private companies.\n\nA third hacker group, Lazarus, a North Korean hacker collective, has gained international recognition under the alias Lazarus. This group operates under the auspices of the Reconnaissance General Bureau of North Korea's military forces. The US indicted a North Korean programmer in September 2018 for his role in the 2014 Sony Pictures attack.",
  "summary": "KUALA LUMPUR: At least five of the world’s leading “professional” hacker groups are linked to intelligence agencies or governments of certain countries.",
  "key_points": [
    "Five hacker groups linked to foreign intelligence agencies",
    "APT28 (Fancy Bear) connected to Russia's military intelligence unit 26165",
    "APT29 (Cozy Bear) linked to Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service"
  ],
  "editors_take": "The integration of highly organized hacker collectives into state intelligence frameworks transforms cyberattacks from isolated criminal acts into sophisticated instruments of government espionage and geopolitical disruption.",
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}