The U.S. Justice Department on Thursday unsealed indictments of five Russian intelligence officers and one Russian civilian for carrying out the “WhisperGate” cyberattack on Ukrainian infrastructure in January 2022. The case is largely symbolic, but offers an interesting glimpse into what the FBI has described as “the opening shot of the war.”
The unsealed charge Five officers from the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Russian General Staff (GRU) are accomplices of a civilian hacker named Amin Timovich Stigal. charge In June, only Sitgal was named as the perpetrator of the attack.
The GRU officers were part of a unit known as “Cadet Blizzard,” “Ember Bear” and “Dev-0586.” The unit’s commander, Yuriy Denisov, was one of the men charged Thursday. The GRU team was tasked with using malware to attack critical infrastructure in Europe, Central America and Asia.
Stigal, originally from Chechnya, created or perfected a highly destructive malware known as “Door of Whispers.”
The most notable feature of WhisperGate is that it “disguises” itself as a ransomware attack, in which the data on the infected system would be encrypted and held hostage until victims paid a ransom to unlock it. Stigal and the GRU team put some of the data they stole up for sale on the Internet to maintain the illusion that they were a gang of data thieves.
In reality, WhisperGate aggressively destroyed data beyond any hope of recovery, including core operating software, the destruction of which would render entire devices and systems unusable.
According to the DOJ, Stigal conspired with the GRU team to infect critical systems in Ukraine with WhisperGate and other destructive malware in January 2022, as a prelude to the Russian invasion, which was launched the following month.
The goal of the WhisperGate attack was to steal information from Ukrainian systems, paralyze vital infrastructure, and spread terror among the Ukrainian population. Stigal and his GRU accomplices hacked Ukrainian websites to display messages such as “Ukrainians! All information about you has become public, be afraid and expect the worst. This concerns your past, your present, and your future!”
Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen said Thursday that the WhisperGate attack was “emblematic of Russia’s abhorrent disregard for innocent civilians as it carries out its unjust invasion.”
Other U.S. officials noted that the Russian malware spread very quickly, without restraint or control from its GRU handlers, turning it into an electronic pandemic that infected systems well beyond Ukraine’s borders.
The Russians also deliberately attacked computer systems in the United States and Europe, including a federal government system in Maryland, as part of their combat preparations for the invasion of Ukraine.
One of the charges against Stigal and the GRU officers is that they conspired to use the services of a U.S.-based company to distribute their cyber weapon. According to prosecutors, Stigal began preparation He carried out the attack in 2020 by creating multiple accounts with an unspecified US company that provided email and voicemail services. He then uploaded hundreds of files to these accounts, including the dangerous WhisperGate virus.
“The FBI, working with our law enforcement partners and allies, will relentlessly pursue and counter these threats. This type of cyberwarfare will not be tolerated. The magnitude of Russia’s crimes cannot be ignored,” sworn FBI Special Agent Bill DelBagno at a press conference Thursday.
It is not yet clear what the consequences of the arrest will be, as the Russian hackers appear to be beyond the reach of US law enforcement. The US State Department is offering a $10 million reward for information leading to their arrest.
“These are marked people. We know who they are. There is a reward for their heads and we will hunt them down relentlessly. The message is clear to the GRU and to the Russians: we are on their trail,” insisted Deputy Attorney General Olsen.
Ivan Kalabashkin, deputy director of the SBU’s cybersecurity department, welcomed the indictments at a cybersecurity forum in Washington on Thursday. He said Ukraine was experiencing 10 to 15 Russian cyberattacks a day.
Breitbart News
