Associated Press: Russian hackers disguised as IS supporters sent threats to the wives of American military personnel

Hackers from the Fancy Bear group, which is associated with Russian authorities, were behind the sending of threatening messages to five wives of American military personnel in February 2015, reports the Associated Press.

On February 10, 2015, five American military wives received threatening messages on social networks from hackers who identified themselves as members of the CyberCaliphate group and declared their allegiance to the Islamic State. “I know everything about you, your husband and your children. We are much closer than you can imagine,” one message said. It also said that the hacker gained access to the woman's phone and computer.

According to the Associated Press, citing data collected by cybersecurity company Secureworks, around the same time that military wives received threats from CyberCaliphate, hackers from Fancy Bear tried to break into their email accounts.

• The hacker group Fancy Bear, also known as APT28, is linked by cybersecurity experts to the Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces (GRU).
• Fancy Bear hackers are said to be responsible for many cyber attacks, including on the Bundestag, the US Democratic Party Committee, NATO, and the French TV channel TV5 Monde.