Russian Hackers Charged in Global Cyber Espionage Campaign

The U.S. and U.K. accuse two Russian nationals of conducting a wide-ranging hacking campaign on behalf of Russia's Federal Security Service, targeting government officials, defense contractors, and research facilities.

Two Russian nationals, Ruslan Aleksandrovich Peretyatko and Andrey Stanislavovich Korinets, have been charged by the U.S. Department of Justice with conducting a global hacking campaign on behalf of Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB). The campaign targeted computer networks in the U.S., U.K., other NATO countries, and Ukraine.
The hackers targeted current and former U.S. government officials, defense contractors, and employees of federally funded research facilities studying nuclear energy and advanced computing technologies. They used malicious emails to steal passwords and collected valuable intelligence related to U.S. defense, foreign affairs, and security policies.
The U.K. government has accused the same Russian hacking group, known as Star Blizzard, of interfering in U.K. politics since 2015. The group is believed to have targeted British lawmakers from multiple parties and selectively leaked sensitive information to serve Russian interests.
The U.K. government has imposed sanctions on Peretyatko and Korinets for their involvement in the so-called spear-phishing operations. The U.S. State Department has offered rewards of up to $10 million for information leading to their arrest or the apprehension of their co-conspirators.
Star Blizzard is also linked to attempts to hamper European NGOs investigating war crimes in Ukraine and is suspected of being behind the leak of UK-US trade documents released before the UK general election in 2019.