Friday January 14, 2022
At the request of the United States
Russian secret service destroys hacker network
Under pressure from the USA, the Russian secret service reports that the notorious hacker group Revil has been destroyed. At the same time, however, Kiev blames Moscow for the morning’s cyber attack on its own government websites.
After mass cyber attacks on Western companies and organizations, Russia claims it has accused members of the notorious hacker group Revil. The domestic secret service FSB announced that their infrastructure had been dissolved. The investigation was prompted by a request from US authorities.
According to security experts, Revil had specialized in the distribution of so-called ransomware. Ransomware is malware that encrypts data after a successful attack on victims. The criminals then demand a ransom for the decryption, mostly in cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin. During searches of 14 members’ homes, 426 million rubles, the equivalent of 4.8 million euros, were confiscated – partly in cryptocurrency. In addition, 600,000 US dollars and 500,000 euros in cash as well as computer equipment and 20 high-quality cars were seized.
In November, international investigators arrested several hackers who are said to be responsible for thousands of cyber attacks on organizations and companies. For example, several plants of the world’s largest meat company JBS were paralyzed with the Revil software. The group is also suspected of being behind the major attack on the American IT service provider Kaseya last summer.
Kiev: Cyber attacks came from Russia
Meanwhile, Ukraine is blaming Russia for a massive hacking attack on government websites. “According to initial data,” the attacks came from Russia, the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy said in the afternoon in the capital, Kiev. In the Russian media there were already first indications of the attacks even before they were picked up in Ukraine.
The ministry’s experts suspected that the attacks were related to a “recent defeat by Russia in talks on Ukraine’s future cooperation with NATO.”
In the morning, several ministries had complained about a cyber attack on their homepages. Among other things, the official website of the government and the homepages of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Energy and Ministry of Civil Protection were affected. The attack was widespread, it said. A unit specializing in cyber attacks began investigating.