“UK and US Impose Sanctions on Russia Over Cyber Interference: Accused Individuals Face Consequences”
The UK government and the United States have jointly accused Russian security services of orchestrating a prolonged cyber-espionage campaign targeting prominent politicians, journalists, and NGOs. While Russia has been suspected of interference in UK politics previously, the Conservative government has faced criticism for not thoroughly investigating such allegations.
The UK’s foreign ministry asserted that Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) was responsible for “unsuccessful attempts to interfere in UK political processes” and summoned Russia’s ambassador to address the matter. In parallel, US prosecutors unveiled charges against two Russian nationals for hacking computer networks in the UK, the US, and other NATO countries.
The accused individuals now face sanctions in both the UK and the US. UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron condemned Russia’s interference, calling it “completely unacceptable” and a threat to democratic processes. He emphasized that sanctioning those responsible and summoning the Russian ambassador aimed to expose Russia’s malign attempts at influence on the global stage. Cameron’s office identified Centre 18, a unit within the FSB, as accountable for various cyber-espionage operations targeting the UK. One of the individuals charged in the US was an officer in this unit.
Documents leaked
The UK government claimed the FSB targeted parliamentarians from various political parties, with some attacks resulting in documents being leaked in an operation from at least 2015 to 2023.
The organisation had also hacked UK-US trade documents that were leaked ahead of the UK general election in December 2019, it added.
The two men indicted in the United States, Ruslan Aleksandrovich Peretyatko and Andrei Stanislavovich Korinets, are not in US custody.
Each faces one charge that carries a maximum sentence of five years for Peretyatko and up to 10 years for Korinets, the Justice Department said, updating an earlier statement.
The foreign office said Peretyatko and Korinets had been sanctioned for their involvement in the preparation of so-called spear-phishing campaigns and “activity intended to undermine the UK”.
Spear-phishing involves sending malicious links to specific targets “to try to induce them to share sensitive information”.
Attackers often undertake “reconnaissance activity around their target” to make the attempts more effective, according to the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre.
The two men are accused of targeting current and former US officials at the Pentagon, State Department, Department of Energy facilities and in the intelligence community from at least 2016 to 2022.
“Both are currently wanted by the FBI and believed to be in Russia,” a senior FBI official told reporters on condition of anonymity.
The State Department is offering a reward of up to $10 million for information leading to their location and arrest.
Targeting officials
In January, UK cyber-security chiefs warned that Russia and Iran were increasingly targeting government officials, journalists and NGOs with spear-fishing attacks in order to “compromise sensitive systems”.
The NCSC, part of the UK’s signals intelligence agency GCHQ, urged greater vigilance about techniques and tactics used as well as mitigation advice.
It said the Russia-based group SEABORGIUM and the Iran-based TA453 had targeted a range of organisations and individuals in the UK and abroad throughout 2022.
Last year, a British newspaper reported that suspected Kremlin agents hacked ex-prime minister Liz Truss’s cellphone when she was foreign minister.
A source told The Mail on Sunday that up to a year’s messages were hacked including “highly sensitive discussions” on the war in Ukraine.
The hacking was discovered in 2022, when Truss was campaigning to become Conservative party leader to succeed Boris Johnson as prime minister, the paper reported.
Foreign office minister Leo Docherty told MPs in the House of Commons on Thursday that the cyber threat posed by Russia was “real and serious”.
“They create false accounts, impersonate contacts, appear legitimate and create a believable approach seeking to build a rapport before delivering a malicious link to either a document or website of interests,” he said.
