US offers $10 million bounty for targeting Signal, WhatsApp

The United States is offering rewards of up to $10 million for information that identifies or locates members of two Russian-linked cyber groups accused of compromising thousands of encrypted messaging accounts belonging to government officials, military personnel, and journalists. The State Department’s Rewards for Justice program announced the bounty on Monday, targeting groups tracked as UNC5792 and UNC4221, which U.S. authorities associate with Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) and military intelligence services, respectively.

Authorities say the groups have conducted widespread phishing campaigns since at least March, primarily targeting users of Signal and WhatsApp. The hackers impersonate automated support services for these platforms, sending messages that urge high-value targets to click malicious links or provide verification codes. By tricking victims through these social engineering tactics, the attackers link an attacker-controlled device to the victim’s account, gaining access to new messages, contact lists, and group chats.

Last week, the FBI and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) updated a previous advisory to warn that the campaign...