(Bloomberg) -- Hackers impersonated State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert and her deputy Susan Stevenson to target hundreds of individuals in U.S. defense and law enforcement agencies, according to cybersecurity firms.

The hackers are probably a group linked to Russian intelligence services, according to research by FireEye Inc. and CrowdStrike Inc. published Monday in a blog post by FireEye. There’s no evidence that Nauert, Stevenson or the State Department were hacked, said Nick Carr, a senior manager at FireEye.

Victims at dozens of organizations received an email with a subject line stating that Stevenson had shared a drive with them. The email contained a download, labeled as a personal drive belonging to Nauert, that was actually malware that would load onto victims’ computers if they clicked on it, according to the blog post.

The hackers may have used Nauert’s and Stevenson’s names in order to raise doubts about the security of their accounts. In fact, rumors to that effect have spread on social media, Carr said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Alyza Sebenius in Washington at asebenius@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Alex Wayne at awayne3@bloomberg.net, Joshua Gallu

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