Russian spies indicted in worldwide hacks of energy industry, including Kansas nuclear plant
Source: Politico
Their targets worked at more than 500 different entities, including the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, according to the indictment.
Three Russian spies spent five years targeting energy infrastructure in 135 countries in an effort to enable the Russian government to gain remote control of power plants, the U.S. Department of Justice alleged in an indictment unsealed on Thursday.
From 2012 to 2014, according to the indictment unsealed in a district court in Kansas, the three FSB officers Pavel Aleksandrovich Akulov, Mikhail Mikhailovich Gavrilov, and Marat Valeryevich Tyukov worked to hide malware in software updates used by systems that control the equipment in power plants. That tactic and others let the accused install malware on 17,000 devices around the world. The attacks had been previously disclosed in 2018.
From 2014 to 2017, Akulov, Gavrilov and Tyukov are accused of using spearphishing and other tactics to home in on more than 3,300 specific people working in the energy industry. Their targets worked at more than 500 different entities, including the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, according to the indictment. In one instance, they are alleged to have compromised the business network of Wolf Creek Nuclear Operating Corp. in Kansas, which runs a nuclear power plant, though a Justice Department official ,who was granted anonymity as a condition of letting reporters join a press conference, said Thursday that the control systems network was not accessed.
The indictment was one of two unsealed Thursday against Russian hackers. A second indictment unsealed in the U.S. District Court of the District of Columbia alleged that Russian national Evgeny Viktorovich Gladkikh and unnamed co-conspirators targeted a foreign oil facility and a U.S. energy company between 2017 and 2018.
Read more: https://www.politico.com/news/2022/03/24/russian-spies-indicted-hack-nuclear-plant-00020217
bucolic_frolic
(42,675 posts)I've been computing for more than 25 years and I couldn't hack my way into a paper bag.
dutch777
(2,871 posts)lagomorph777
(30,613 posts)I presume these assholes are not available for arrest (i.e. are in Russia).
Bev54
(9,963 posts)in the future, be able to arrest them but now it is more important to make the information public?
reACTIONary
(5,749 posts)The official said that the Justice Department chose to unseal the indictments to warn people about risks to critical infrastructure and to highlight the departments concerns about current malign Russian activity. The official said the indictments are a reminder of the Russian governments intent and capabilities. Unsealing the charges also appears to be tacit acknowledgment that the charged military officials are very unlikely to be arrested and extradited to the U.S.
reACTIONary
(5,749 posts)dalton99a
(81,068 posts)Scrivener7
(50,773 posts)show us they are not weak.
It's the toxic masculinity evil empire. It's idiotic.