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Russian cyber espionage operation overview:
- Who: The U.S. Department of Justice announced it has disrupted a cyber espionage operation that was being run by agents working within a unit of the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation.
- Why: The malware-fueled cyber espionage operation had been stealing sensitive documents from NATO backed governments and journalists, among others, for nearly 20 years.
- Where: The DOJ’s takedown has global implications.
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has announced it has successfully disrupted a cyber espionage unit called “Turla” that was run by Russian agents for decades to compromise sensitive documents.
Russian Agents had been using malware to fuel the cyber espionage operation, according to the DOJ, which said the agents had successfully compromised sensitive documents from at least 50 countries over the last nearly 20 years.
“U.S. law enforcement has neutralized one of Russia’s most sophisticated cyber-espionage tools, used for two decades to advance Russia’s authoritarian objectives,” Deputy Attorney General Lisa O. Monaco said in a statement.
The DOJ said the court-authorized take down of the cyber espionage operation eliminated a malware called “Snake” that had been compromising documents from, among others, journalists and NATO member governments since at least 2004.
The agency attributes Snake to a unit within Center 16 of the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation (FSB). Files stolen using Snake were filtered through computers across the globe that had been compromised with the malware, according to the DOJ.
“For 20 years, the FSB has relied on the Snake malware to conduct cyberespionage against the United States and our allies — that ends today,” Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen of the DOJ’s National Security Division said in a statement.
DOJ used FBI-created tool to disable ‘Snake’ malware used by Russian agents in cyber espionage operation
The DOJ said it used an FBI-created tool — named PERSEUS — to disable the Snake malware by causing it to “overwrite its own vital components.” The FBI was able to develop PERSEUS by analyzing the Snake malware and the Snake network, according to the DOJ.
Snake’s takedown, meanwhile, was nearly decades in the making, according to the DOJ, which said the U.S. government had been investigating Snake for almost 20 years.
“When it comes to combating Russia’s attempts to target the United States and our allies using complex cyber tools, we will not waver in our work to dismantle those efforts,” FBI Cyber Division Assistant Director Bryan Vorndran said in a statement.
In other news involving Russian hackers, a pair of New York men were arrested last December and charged with working with Russian hackers to infiltrate the taxi dispatch system at John F. Kennedy International Airport.
What are your thoughts on the DOJ dismantling the Russian cyber espionage operation? Let us know in the comments.
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One thought on U.S. dismantles Russian cyber espionage operation that compromised sensitive docs
What does this have to do with a class action website? Unless you are finally going to start the lawsuits against the communist agenda that is deep in the nation. All citizens have felt this problem effect us(a).