US warns Russian hackers: We know who you are, we will find you

2024-09-06 08:10:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

US warns Russian hackers: We know who you are, we will find you

Illustrative photo

The United States has indicted five Russian intelligence officers and a Russian civilian in connection with a major cyber attack, described by US prosecutors as the Kremlin's first strike in its war against Ukraine.

On Thursday, the Justice Department accused the Russians of carrying out the malicious "WhisperGate" attack in January 2022 that was intended to weaken Ukraine's civilian infrastructure before the Russian attack a month later.

"The WhisperGate attack targeted Ukrainian civilian infrastructure and computer systems completely unrelated to the military or national defense, including government agencies responsible for Ukraine's emergency services, food security and education, with the aim of harming the morale of Ukrainians," the Assistant Prosecutor said. United States General Matthew Olsen.

The attack "could be considered the first strike of the war," FBI Special Agent Bill DelBagno said, speaking alongside Mr. Olsen at a news conference in Baltimore, Maryland.

The indictment, made public Thursday, is the result of an FBI operation codenamed "Toy Soldiers," and builds on charges originally filed in June against 22-year-old Russian Amin Stigal, a civilian accused of carrying out a cyber attack to help Russian intelligence before the aggression against Ukraine.

As part of the attack, Amin Stigal and agents of Unit 21955 of Russia's Main Directorate of Intelligence, or GRU, used the cyber infrastructure of several US-based companies to carry out what initially appeared to be "ransomware" attacks, attacks in which hackers demanding money in exchange for stolen information, but actually intended to delete all critical data.

According to the indictment, Russian agents of the GRU unit cooperated with Amin Stigalin: Vladislav Borovkov, Denis Denisenko, Yuriy Denisov, Dmitriy Goloshubov and Nikolay Korchagin.

FBI officials said the GRU unit also operated under the names Cadet Blizzard, Ember Bear and Dev-0586, carrying out cyberattacks on critical infrastructure across Europe, Central America and Asia.

US warns Russian hackers: We know who you are, we will find you

In addition to the new charges, US officials said they are offering a reward of up to $10 million for information on each of the accused Russians.

Officials said they are working with Interpol to send information that could help arrest the six Russians.

"We've got them in the ring. We know who they are. There's a bounty on them and we're going to pursue them relentlessly," said Assistant United States Attorney General Matthew Olsen.

"The message is clear", he said, "for the GRU unit, we know who you are and we will find you".

The Russian Embassy in Washington did not respond to a VOA request for comment.

A senior Ukrainian official praised the US indictment and the multinational work that helped bring the charges./VOA