These hackers are accused of working to steal data from officials in multiple nations’ intelligence communities. What damage was done, and how can we counter attacks like this in the future?

From CBS News. Russia-based hackers conducted a sophisticated cyber campaign against American intelligence officials, including contractors at the State and Defense Departments, as part of an international operation that included NATO members and Ukraine, the Justice Department alleged Thursday.

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Prosecutors accused an officer in Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) and another co-defendant of carrying out a spear phishing campaign between October 2016 and October 2022 against current and former employees of the U.S. intelligence community, defense contractors and Energy Department facilities.

Ruslan Aleksandrovich Peretyatko — the FSB officer — and Andrey Stanislavovich Korinets, who are both part of an organization known as the Callisto Group, allegedly used spoof email accounts that appeared to be from legitimate individuals to trick victims into providing their login credentials in order to access their email accounts …

The two are charged with one count of conspiracy to commit computer fraud and abuse.

Think tank researchers and journalists in the United Kingdom and other Western nations were also targeted in the alleged Russian hacking campaign, investigators said, and Justice Department officials placed the blame squarely at the feet of the Russian government. …

Both defendants are currently wanted by the FBI and believed to be in Russia.

According to a Justice Department official, the FSB unit where Peretyatko works — FSB 18 — is supposed to act as a counterpart to the FBI’s cybersecurity arm, but in this case, it was utilized offensively in an attack, which poses a unique risk. And while U.S. officials say all nations engage in intelligence gathering, what sets this operation apart is FSB 18’s partnership with cybercriminals and its weaponization of information to destabilize democratic processes in the U.K.

The FBI and other private entities will continue to track FSB 18’s work, the officials said Thursday, especially heading into the 2024 presidential election in the U.S. The investigation is ongoing. …

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(Excerpt from CBS News. Photo Credit: Towfiqu barbhuiya on Unsplash)