The US justice system has filed charges against several members of the Russian military intelligence service GRU. They are accused of being behind a large-scale hacker attack on the Ukrainian government in January 2022, shortly before Russia’s invasion of the country, the US Department of Justice said. They later also attacked computer systems in other countries that supported Kyiv – including the US and other NATO countries.
The five GRU employees are accused of conspiring with a Russian civilian to hack into government computer systems in Ukraine before Russia invaded, steal data and pass it on. “The defendants did this to raise concerns among Ukrainian citizens about the security of their government systems and personal data,” it said. The Russian civilian had already been charged in the case in the USA, and the five Russian military personnel have now been added to the charges.
Bounty offered
A representative of the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) said the attack could be seen as the beginning of the war in Ukraine. The cyber criminals had sent a message with their attack to scare the Ukrainians. A month later, the Russian military invaded Ukraine. “This type of cyber warfare will not be tolerated,” said the FBI representative. “The extent of Russian crimes cannot be ignored.”
It is not clear where the six Russians are currently, said officials from the US law enforcement authorities. The indictment will be sent to the international police organization Interpol. If the men are in Russia, they are now stuck there. If they are anywhere else, they can no longer feel safe. The US is also offering a bounty of ten million dollars (around nine million euros) for each of the six men for information on them and for tips to track them down.
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