Federal prosecutors unsealed two indictments Thursday that charge four Russian government employees in two hacking conspiracies that targeted thousands of computers in the global energy sector between 2012 and 2018.
The Justice Department said the cyberespionage and sabotage campaigns were aimed at hundreds of companies and organizations in as many as 135 countries.
The announcement came as U.S. officials are warning businesses to brace for possible Russian cyberattacks in retaliation for U.S. actions against Russia over the Ukraine invasion.
A June 2021 indictment in Washington D.C. lays out the alleged efforts of Russian Ministry of Defense research institute employee Evgeny Viktorovich Gladkikh and his co-conspirators to damage critical infrastructure outside the United States. The actions allegedly caused two emergency shutdowns at a foreign targeted facility, prosecutors say. Court records say the hackers subsequently tried to breach computers of a U.S. company that managed similar critical infrastructure entities in the United States.
An August 2021 Kansas indictment, United States v. Pavel Aleksandrovich Akulov, et al., details allegations about a two-phase campaign by three Russian intelligence officers to compromise the computers of hundreds of entities in the energy sector worldwide. Access to such systems would have provided the Russian government the ability to disrupt and damage computer systems at a time of its choosing, prosecutors said. The three accused officers were members of Russia’s Federal Security Service, known as the FSB, court records say.
“Russian state-sponsored hackers pose a serious and persistent threat to critical infrastructure both in the United States and around the world,” Deputy Attorney General Lisa O. Monaco said Thursday. “Although the criminal charges unsealed today reflect past activity, they make crystal clear the urgent ongoing need for American businesses to harden their defenses and remain vigilant. Alongside our partners here at home and abroad, the Department of Justice is committed to exposing and holding accountable state-sponsored hackers who threaten our critical infrastructure with cyberattacks.”
FBI Deputy Director Paul Abbate said the bureau is “laser-focused on countering the significant cyberthreat Russia poses to our critical infrastructure.”
None of the suspects are in custody.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
