The U.S. Accuses Russian Hacker of Cyber Attacks on Ukraine and Its Allies

On Wednesday, the U.S. Department of Justice announced that a Russian citizen has been charged with conspiracy to hack and destroy computer systems and data in Ukraine and allied countries, including the United States. A reward of ten million dollars has been offered for information related to this individual. According to Reuters, a federal prosecutor in Maryland issued an indictment on Tuesday against 22-year-old Amin Timovich Stigal. The U.S. Department of Justice stated that prior to Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, this Russian citizen targeted government systems and data in Kyiv that were not related to the military. Following Russia's ground invasion of Ukraine, computer systems in the United States and other countries supporting Ukraine were also targeted by him. Stigal remains at large, and the U.S. State Department has set a reward of up to ten million dollars for information regarding his whereabouts or malicious cyber activities. Merrick Garland, the U.S. Attorney General, stated, "This individual conspired with the Russian intelligence service to carry out a cyber attack on the government of Ukraine and then its allies, including the United States, on the eve of Russia's unjust invasion of Ukraine." The Department of Justice added that in January 2022, Stigal and members of the Russian intelligence service exploited the infrastructure of a U.S.-based company to distribute malware called "WisperGate" within the Ukrainian government’s computer network to destroy these systems and related data. In August of the same year, this group also hacked the transportation infrastructure of an unnamed Central European country supporting Ukraine. The Department of Justice's statement mentioned that the hackers also examined computers of a federal government agency in Maryland, but the name of this agency was not disclosed. Two years prior, the British government, along with the U.S. government, jointly sanctioned seven Russians accused of carrying out cyber attacks on schools, hospitals, and economic companies in these two countries and others around the world. In a statement from the U.S. Treasury Department regarding this, it was mentioned that "Russia has become a haven for cybercriminals like this group that carry out attacks against the U.S., the U.K., and other allied and friendly countries."