U.S. Charges Russian Intelligence Officers in Major Cyberattacks
Prosecutors said the suspects hacked elections in France and the 2018 Winter Olympics.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/19/us/politics/russian-intelligence-cyberattacks.html
The Justice Department announced indictments on Monday of six Russian military intelligence officers in connection with major hacks worldwide, including of the Winter Olympics and elections in France as well as an attack in 2017 aimed at destabilizing Ukraine that spread rapidly and was blamed for billions of dollars in damage.
Prosecutors said the suspects were from the same Russian unit that conducted one of the Kremlin’s major operations to interfere in the 2016 American election, the theft of Democratic emails. They attacked the 2017 French presidential elections; targeted British authorities investigating the poisoning of a Russian former intelligence operative and the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea; and hacked the Ukrainian parliament, finance ministry and electrical grid, according to court documents.
The case marked another effort by Trump administration officials to punish Russia for its meddling in other countries’ affairs, even as President Trump has adopted a more accommodating stance toward Moscow. The charges did not address 2020 election interference; American intelligence agencies have assessed that Russia is trying to influence the vote in November.
