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Hacker’s Perspective: Here’s How Russians Infiltrated US Company via WiFi

Dreamlike Street

The APT28 hacking group, which is believed to be associated with Russian military intelligence, is suspected of employing a sophisticated tactic called the "nearest neighbor attack" to infiltrate the enterprise WiFi network of a U.S. company from a remote location thousands of miles away.

This so-called daisy chain attack is a stark reminder of how threat actors, with ingenuity, can repurpose wireless attack methods that have been around for over two decades. Furthermore, WiFi attacks aren’t necessarily common, but they are nearly effortless to carry out, due to the autonomous nature of the tools threat actors and penetration testers use.

The breach was uncovered on February 4, 2022, when the cybersecurity firm Volexity identified unusual activity targeting a Washington, D.C., organization engaged in Ukraine-related work. However, Volexity, which refers to APT28 by the codename "GruesomeLarch," linked the attack to the group only in a blog post published in November 2024.

Here’s a breakdown of how the nearest neighbor Daisy Chain attack was executed.

APT28, also known by its various aliases Fancy Bear, Forest Blizzard, or Sofacy, launched its attack by initially breaching a neighboring organization within the WiFi range of the intended target. By taking advantage of this proximity, they conducted what is called lateral movement or lateral pivoting by taking over an unprivileged Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) account.

This allowed them to move across the network, to penetrate deeper by exploiting weak points without requiring direct physical access to the victim’s network. This is why security auditing and strict enforcement of local security protocols are vital.

How did the hackers hop from the network of one building to its neighboring business within WiFi reach? Simple. After scanning the network, they found a computer that was connected to the initial network via Ethernet but also could connect via WiFi, which is known as a dual-homed device. This is common among laptops and routers.

They then escalated the attack by weaponizing that device’s WiFi capabilities to break into neighboring organizations.

Once access was gained, they extracted sensitive data, by executing a batch file named servtask.bat, which dumped key Windows registry hives (SAM, Security, and System) and compressed them into a ZIP archive for exfiltration. By relying on native Windows tools, they minimized their operational footprint to evade detection.

A Hacker’s Perspective on WiFi Security

While daisy-chained attacks can be sophisticated, as was the case here, the attack methods are well known to novices familiar with WiFi hacking and scanning the subnet of a local network to enumerate the services running the devices on the network. Regardless of how common the knowledge is, the impact can be devastating.

Years ago I was living in a rural area that wasn’t covered by any wireless internet providers. This means few had WiFi and had to use personal hotspots. I was working on an important project when my mobile hotspot started malfunctioning.

Using a Raspberry Pi with two wireless adapters, I strapped it to an RC car and drove it toward my next-door neighbor’s house. One WiFi adapter stayed connected to my hotspot, and the other was used to carry out the wireless attack and crack the WPA2 password, which only took minutes.

Next, I installed a wireless repeater and connected it to my neighbor's network, extending their router’s signal strength. From my illicit node, I could have daisy-chained remote attacks from my new position on the wireless network, but all I wanted was the free internet.

However, in the case of the state-sponsored hackers, the attack allowed them a level of initial obfuscation and protection long enough to carry out their data exfiltration. If you think about it, sitting outside in a car with a laptop or a rooted Android phone fitted with Kali Nethunter OS carries risks.

Back in 2018, spies working for the Russian GRU military intelligence were caught in the Netherlands while on a city street attempting to hack into the WiFi of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons. At the time, it was investigating the nerve agent poisoning of a former Russian spy and a chemical attack in Syria. They were utilizing an antenna that was hidden in their car’s trunk, but the plan was foiled.

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