Russian hackers are targeting Signal and WhatsApp accounts, says US's FBI

Russian hackers accessed thousands of messaging accounts by pretending to be in-app support, the FBI said
Published on
24/03/2026 - 11:54 GMT+1
Attackers impersonate official support accounts on messaging platforms, luring users to click malicious links.

Russian hackers have breached thousands of accounts on widely used messaging apps belonging to US government officials, military personnel, politicians, and journalists, according to US intelligence agencies.

Hackers may impersonate them, send phishing links in messages to their contacts to continue the attacks, the statement said.

Russia-linked hackers target messaging apps of European officials, intelligence agencies warn
The FBI and CISA suggest treating unknown messages with suspicion by blocking and reporting them immediately and enabling security features on their messaging apps.

Euronews Next contacted the messaging apps Signal and WhatsApp, but did not receive immediate replies.

The warning follows similar alerts earlier this month from agencies in Portugal and the Netherlands, which say the Kremlin infiltrated WhatsApp and Signal accounts of government officials, diplomats and military personnel.

Russia has a keen interest in Signal because of its “good reputation,” as a secure and reliable independent communication channel for officials that use end-to-end encryption, the Dutch General Intelligence and Security Services (MIVD and AIVD) said in a statement earlier this month.

Last week, France’s Cyber Crisis Coordination Center (C4) also issued an alert about the same targets on messaging platforms.

Signal wrote on X earlier this month that its infrastructure had not been compromised in the attacks
It reminded users that app support will “never initiate contact via in-app messages, SMS or social media” to ask for a verification code.

“While we build robust technical safeguards, user vigilance is ultimately the best defence against phishing,” Signal wrote
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