In a blog post entitled “New activity from Russian actor Nobelium,” Microsoft’s V.P. of Customer Security & Trust Tom Burt discussed a recent alert issued by the Microsoft Threat Intelligence Center (MSTIC) regarding the activities of this threat actor. Mr Burt shared that Nobelium “has been attempting to replicate the approach it has used in past attacks by targeting organizations integral to the global IT supply chain.”

Nobelium was behind the 2020 SolarWinds incident and is now focused on attacking “resellers and other technology service providers that customize, deploy and manage cloud services and other technologies on behalf of their customers.” According to Burt, Microsoft, “believe[s] Nobelium ultimately hopes to piggyback on any direct access that resellers may have to their customers’ IT systems and more easily impersonate an organization’s trusted technology partner to gain access to their downstream customers.”

Microsoft has observed this behavior by Nobelium since May 2021. The techniques used by Nobelium include password spray and phishing to steal credentials and obtain privileged access.

Microsoft issued technical guidance to help protect organizations, as well as recommendations for mitigation and remediation, which can be accessed here.

Resellers and managed service providers are in Nobelium’s cross-hairs. If you are part of that industry, staying abreast of this threat intelligence is helpful and worth consideration to help prevent an attack that could affect both you and your customers.