The United States has filed charges against seven alleged Russian military intelligence officers for taking part in what it says was a conspiracy to hack US, Canadian and international organizations, Assistant Attorney General for National Security John Demers announced in a press conference on Thursday.
WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 04th October, 2018) The United States has filed charges against seven alleged Russian military intelligence officers for taking part in what it says was a conspiracy to hack US, Canadian and international organizations, Assistant Attorney General for National Security John Demers announced in a press conference on Thursday.
"We announce an indictment charging seven Russian military officers with violation of several US criminal laws for malicious cyber activities against the United States and its allies," Demers told reporters.
A subsequent press release from Justice Department named the seven defendants.
"The defendants, all Russian nationals and residents, are Aleksei Sergeyevich Morenets, 41, Evgenii Mikhaylovich Serebriakov, 37, Ivan Sergeyevich Yermakov, 32, Artem Andreyevich Malyshev, 30, and Dmitriy Sergeyevich Badin, 27, who were each assigned to Military Unit 26165, and Oleg Mikhaylovich Sotnikov, 46, and Alexey Valerevich Minin, 46, who were also GRU officers," the release said.
The seven Russian military officers under indictment allegedly targeted a nuclear power company in the US state of Pennsylvania, multiple anti-doping agencies and athletes, according to the Justice Department. The company, Westinghouse, based in Pittsburgh, supplied nuclear fuel to Ukraine, Attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania Scott Brady told reporters.
The Justice Department said at least 250 athletes from 30 different countries were also targeted, as well as multiple anti-doping agencies in the United States, Canada and internationally and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW).
"This indictment alleges a conspiracy to use computer hacking to obtain non-public, personal health information about athletes and others in the files of anti-doping agencies and sporting federations in multiple countries," Demers said.
The United States aims to bring the defendants to Pittsburgh and eventually put them into jail, the Justice Department officials added.
FBI Deputy Assistant Director for the Cyber Division Eric Welling said the United States believes the defendants are currently in Russia, but may travel to other countries that support international norms.
Earlier in the day, the Dutch Defense Ministry said that the country's intelligence services had prevented a Russian cyberattack on the Organization for Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) . London and Amsterdam issued a joint statement decrying alleged Russian cyberattacks. The UK Foreign Office also accused the Russian foreign intelligence service previously known as GRU of organizing numerous cyberattacks, including on the servers of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA),
Amid mounting allegations, Russia's Foreign Ministry said on Thursday that Western spy mania was running rampant, stressing that Moscow has not and will not launch such attacks, as it has no reason to do so. A source in the Russian Foreign Ministry told Sputnik that Russia had no need to hack the OPCW systems as it had access to all the information.
