DOJ calls out Russian hacking spree

DOJ calls out Russian hacking spree

[NFA] The U.S. Justice Department said on Monday it has indicted six Russian intelligence agency hackers for a four-year long hacking spree that included attacks against the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics and 2017 French elections.

Freddie Joyner has more.

The U.S. Justice Department said on Monday it has indicted six Russian intelligence agency hackers for a four-year hacking spree that included attacks against the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea and the 2017 French elections.

[ASSISTANT ATTORNEY GENERAL FOR NATIONAL SECURITY, JOHN DEMERS] "Today we announce criminal charges against the conspiracy of Russian military intelligence officers who stand accused of conducting the most disruptive and destructive series of computer attacks ever attributed to a single group." Prosecutors said the defendants were officers in Russia's GRU military intelligence agency and accused them of destructive attacks on Ukraine’s power grid that experts say caused upwards of $1 billion in losses.

[ASSISTANT ATTORNEY GENERAL FOR NATIONAL SECURITY, JOHN DEMERS] "The conspirators designed the malware to spread with devastating and indiscriminate alacrity, bringing down entire networks in seconds and searching for remote computer connections through which to attack additional innocent victims all without hope of recovery or repair." British officials on Monday also condemned the attacks and accused the GRU hackers of attempting to disrupt next year's Olympic and Paralympic Games in Tokyo.

The attacks on the Games are the latest in a string of hacking attempts against international sporting organizations that cybersecurity experts say have been orchestrated by Moscow after being banned for doping violations.

Moscow has repeatedly denied the allegations.