Category Archives: GRU

Trump calls Putin’s plan for investigating 2016 DNC breach an ‘incredible offer’

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In a stunning exchange Monday during a press conference between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, the former KGB agent offered to host American law enforcement officials who are currently investigating foreign meddling in U.S. elections. The proposal comes after the Department of Justice last week indicted 12 active Russian military intelligence officers for allegedly hacking the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) before selectively leaking stolen material through a collage of websites during the 2016 presidential campaign. Trump appeared to approve of the idea, calling it “an incredible offer” for members of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s team to travel to Russia as part of their broad investigation into Russian interference in the elections. “[Putin] offered to have the people working on this case come and work with their investigators with respect to the 12 people,” Trump said. Putin also said he would expect “reciprocity,” with Russian investigators allowed to […]

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Justice Department charges 12 Russian intel officers in hack of DNC

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The Department of Justice has charged 12 Russian military intelligence officers for allegedly hacking into the Democratic National Committee (DNC), the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), an unnamed U.S. election technology company and individuals affiliated with Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign. The conspirators were also allegedly behind two websites that facilitated the release of hacked material, named DCLeaks.com and Guccifer 2.0. The Guccifer 2.0 blog was also tied to a social media account that was known to directly communicate with journalists, political consultants and, according to the indictment, at least one U.S. lawmaker. Friday’s announcement comes three days before President Donald Trump sits down with Russian President Vladimir Putin for diplomatic talks on a range of issues, including the Syrian conflict, the Russia-Ukraine conflict and the threat of future election meddling. Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein said at a press conference Friday that he had briefed Trump on the matter […]

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Report: Kaspersky Lab to open new data center in Switzerland to curb espionage suspicions

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Hoping to curb suspicions surrounding its alleged relationship to Russian intelligence, Moscow-based cybersecurity company Kaspersky Lab is set to start building a new data center in Switzerland, Reuters reports.  The aim is to address recent concerns that Russian spies have supposedly leveraged the anti-virus platform to steal confidential files, according to documents seen by Reuters. In an official statement, the company explains that this new building is part of their larger Global Transparency Initiative. “We understand that during a time of geopolitical tension, mirrored by an increasingly complex cyber-threat landscape, people may have questions and we want to address them,” a company statement reads.  The Swiss lab will store and analyze malicious computer files with unusual characteristics that come from customers geographically located in the United States and European Union. Only “abnormal” files will be sent on to Kaspersky headquarters in Moscow for further manual review. A source told Reuters that 99.6 percent […]

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U.S. sanctions Russia over attempts to hack energy grid, NotPetya

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The Trump administration announced Thursday sanctions against Russian entities for a multitude of actions, including meddling in the 2016 presidential election, the NotPetya attack and persistent attempt to break into the U.S. energy grid. The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned five entities and 19 individuals with ties to the Kremlin, including high-ranking officials in Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) and Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU). “The administration is confronting and countering malign Russian cyber activity, including their attempted interference in U.S. elections, destructive cyber-attacks, and intrusions targeting critical infrastructure,” said Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.  “These targeted sanctions are a part of a broader effort to address the ongoing nefarious attacks emanating from Russia.” Senior administration officials say that a number of those sanctioned are responsible for attempts to breach industrial control systems tied to the U.S. energy grid. Officials say attackers conducted a “multi-stage campaign” […]

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Ukraine blames infamous Russian hackers for ‘BadRabbit’ ransomware attack

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A group of hackers believed to be associated with Russia’s Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU), better known as APT28 or Fancy Bear, was responsible for last week’s international ransomware attack dubbed “BadRabbit,” according to Ukraine’s top law enforcement agency, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU). In a letter sent to CyberScoop on Wednesday, SBU officials laid blame on APT28 for launching the massive, coordinated attack that disrupted business operations for hundreds of organizations based in Ukraine and Russia. Victims included multiple Russian news outlets, government organizations in both countries and Ukrainian transportation services. An official with Ukraine’s state cyber police announced Thursday, as part of an interview with Reuters, that the hackers behind BadRabbit intended for the ransomware to effectively act as a smokescreen while they simultaneously sent highly targeted phishing emails to several organizations. The phishing emails were designed to gain access to “financial and confidential information.” The state cyber police did not […]

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Leaked NSA hacking report ratchets up pressure on local election officials

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Despite new evidence from a leaked NSA report that Russian hackers sought to compromise state and local election technology, the officials in charge are still vigorously opposing the federal designation of their polling systems as critical infrastructure. “It’s unclear how this situation would change anyone’s opinions about the [critical infrastructure] designation,” Kay Stimson of the National Association of Secretaries of State told CyberScoop. NASS represents the state-level officials responsible for tabulating election results. Stimson added that officials didn’t get any additional resources to defend their networks as a result of the January 2017 announcement by the Department of Homeland Security, which many saw as a federal power grab. Federal officials have stressed that state or local participation in any DHS programs is voluntary, and suggested that DHS expertise might be able to help election officials secure themselves against online attacks. Stimson said officials had asked DHS for a briefing about the leaked information. The document, leaked […]

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Experts warn Congress of ongoing Russian information warfare against Europe

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Russian intelligence forces are currently involved in an online disinformation campaign to undermine several crucial European elections, former Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves told lawmakers during a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing Thursday. IIves was one of four experts who spoke Thursday on Capitol Hill about Russian hacking and propaganda efforts designed to undermine The North Atlantic Treaty Organization and European Union. IIves was president of between 2006 and 2016, during a period in which Russian hackers launched a massive distributed denial of service-style attack on the country’s government agencies and private sector. “I would argue this will be the main battlefield over the next year,” IIves. “There are a number of key elections coming up among major countries … [and] in all cases we’ve seen significant meddling. The Dutch are so afraid they’ve decided to go back to paper balloting because of what might happen.” Lawmakers in Washington have […]

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