back to article Microsoft: Russia sent its B team to wipe Ukrainian hard drives

Here's a curious tale about a highly destructive yet flaky Kremlin-backed crew that was active during the early days of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, then went relatively quiet – until this year. In a detailed report this week, analysts at Microsoft's Threat Intelligence unit outlined the work of a group they're calling Cadet …

  1. Doctor Huh?

    TV show potential

    Lots of shows concentrate on the "genius" hackers. What about the adventures of The B-Team? Follow the 'splits of a mediocre bunch of computer jockeys as they perform the hacking equivalent of digging latrines and running the motor pool...

    1. TimMaher Silver badge
      Coat

      Re: TV show potential of the B-Team

      They could be financed by a vindictive, incompetent and self promoting boss.

      An ex-PM perhaps. Whose name begins with “B”. Hence the B-Team?

    2. Blazde Silver badge
      Windows

      Re: TV show potential

      *crackly telephone line* "Have you tried turning it on and off?"

      l1t3_coder: [pulling phone from ear] "Huh, I think boss said we should give up and clock off"

      Zero Skool: "Whoo, aight.... Command and control server down. Minecraft server UP. We got blocks to break"

      fone fobia: "Man I am playing me some Uplink tonight. I figured out what Dictionary Hacker is now"

      Paleo: "Guys, we got a Twitter follower. What should I do? It could be the Feds.."

      [I think it should be a running gag that we never see any actual hacking on screen. When they do talk about minor successes we're never sure how honest they're being]

    3. Wzrd1 Silver badge

      Re: TV show potential

      I dunno, F-Troop was already done.

  2. An_Old_Dog Silver badge

    The B-Team Zakos

    ... look like they're used primarily as a noisy distraction while the A-teams silently infiltrate systems, exfiltrate data, and alter or corrupt select data.

  3. NoneSuch Silver badge
    Pint

    All It Takes

    ...is one wildcard in the wrong position and we lose the entire Cloud.

    Vladimir Putin stars in Stalin II - The Revenge

  4. Ball boy Silver badge
    Coat

    What a job!

    Microsoft have a corporate vice president of customer security and trust?

    Gentlemen, I give you a job that is surely even more soul-destroying than fitting turn-signals to BMW's ;-)

    1. anonymous boring coward Silver badge

      Re: What a job!

      "even more soul-destroying than fitting turn-signals to BMW"

      Any new car, if you are in the UK.

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Coming from Microsoft

    are they sure it wasn't just their buggy code which presents a bigger threat than B team hackers?

  6. _SMB_

    I feel like there is a non-zero chance this is not the 'B-Team' but the afterschool or hacker camp APT

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