U.S. and British officials said that the four Russians were responsible for targeting systems in more than 100 countries over a six-year period, including energy and aviation sectors of the United States. Photo courtesy Federal Bureau of Investigation
March 25 (UPI) -- U.S. and British officials have accused four Russian officials -- including hackers with a Moscow intelligence agency -- with various cybercrimes committed over a period of several years against more than 100 countries, including the United States.
The U.S. Justice Department and British Foreign Office announced the cybercrimes on Thursday. They say the Russian officials worked with the Kremlin to conduct cyber intrusions between 2012 and 2018 that targeted the global energy sector in about 135 countries.
The department said the attacks came as part of two separate conspiracies targeting "thousands of computers, at hundreds of companies and organizations" over the six-year period.
The charges are part of two separate indictments last summer and unsealed on Thursday.
One of the Russians identified in the indictment is Evgeny Viktorovich Gladkikh, an employee of a Russian defense research institute. Prosecutors say that he and three co-conspirators caused two separate emergency shutdowns at a foreign refinery by hacking the system and installing malware.
The attacks also included breaches at a nuclear power plant in Kansas and a chemical plant in Saudi Arabia.
"In some cases, the spearphishing attacks were successful, including in the compromise of the business network of the Wolf Creek Nuclear Operating Corporation in Burlington, Kan., which operates a nuclear power plant," the Justice Department said in a statement.
Gladkikh is charged with one count of conspiracy to cause damage to an energy facility.
The other three were identified as Pavel Aleksandrovich Akulov, Mikhail Mikhailovich Gavrilov and Marat Valeryevich Tyukov. Authorities said they undertook years-long efforts to target and compromise computer systems of energy companies around the world. Those three are suspected hackers with Moscow's Federal Security Service.
None of the four have been arrested, officials said.
"After establishing an illegal foothold in a particular network, the conspirators typically used that foothold to penetrate further into the network by obtaining access to other computers and networks at the victim entity," the department added.
Akulov, Gavrilov and Tyukov are charged with conspiracy to cause damage to an energy facility and conspiracy to commit computer fraud and abuse and wire fraud.
Akulov and Gavrilov are also charged with substantive counts of wire fraud and computer fraud related to unlawfully obtaining information from computers and causing damage to systems. The pair were also charged with three counts of aggravated identity theft.
The British Foreign Office said that the charges are directly related to Russian President Vladimir Putin's "unprovoked and illegal war in Ukraine," which is now in its second month.
"The U.K., together with the U.S. and other allies, has exposed historic malign cyber activity of Russia's Federal Security Service," the foreign office said.
The Federal Security Service is Moscow's successor spy agency to the Soviet-era KGB.
Authorities said the cybercrimes include "substantial scanning and probing of networks in the American aviation sector, and exfiltration of data in aviation and other key U.S. targets."
"We are sending a clear message to the Kremlin by sanctioning those who target people, businesses and infrastructure," Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said in a statement. "We will not tolerate it."
