Russian Nationals Charged in Connection with Global Hacking Campaign

On Dec. 7, a federal grand jury handed up an indictment of two Russian nationals for crimes related to an alleged campaign on behalf of the Russian government to hack into computer networks in the United States and allied countries. The indictment alleges that the campaign aimed to influence the United Kingdom’s 2019 elections. 

According to the indictment, Ruslan Aleksandrovich Peretyatko, an officer with Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB), and Andrey Stanislavovich Korinets, in collaboration with the FSB, “employed a sophisticated spear phishing campaign to gain unauthorized, persistent access (i.e., ‘hack’) into victims’ computers and email accounts” to gather information used in foreign malign influence operations designed to influence the U.K.’s 2019 elections. Those allegedly targeted include current and former employees of the United States intelligence community, government agencies, and defense contractors, as well as journalists, think tank researchers, and military and government officials. The indictment alleges that the two defendants—in cooperation with other members of the so-called Callisto Group, a Russia-linked cyber espionage group—released information collected from targeted accounts during this campaign to the British and Russian press before the 2019 elections in the United Kingdom. 

The Justice Department charged both Peretyatko and Korinets with one count of conspiracy to commit an offense against the United States, and one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud.

You can read the indictment here or below: