“DOCUMENTS LEAKED”
The UK government claimed the FSB targeted parliamentarians from various political parties, with some attacks resulting in documents being leaked in an operation from at least 2015 to 2023.
The organisation had also hacked UK-US trade documents that were leaked ahead of the UK general election in December 2019, it added.
The two men indicted in the United States, Ruslan Aleksandrovich Peretyatko and Andrei Stanislavovich Korinets, are not in US custody.
Each faces one charge that carries a maximum sentence of five years for Peretyatko and up to 10 years for Korinets, the Justice Department said, updating an earlier statement.
The foreign office said Peretyatko and Korinets had been sanctioned for their involvement in the preparation of so-called spear-phishing campaigns and “activity intended to undermine the UK”.
Spear-phishing involves sending malicious links to specific targets “to try to induce them to share sensitive information”.
Attackers often undertake “reconnaissance activity around their target” to make the attempts more effective, according to the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre.
The two men are accused of targeting current and former US officials at the Pentagon, State Department, Department of Energy facilities and in the intelligence community from at least 2016 to 2022.
“Both are currently wanted by the FBI and believed to be in Russia,” a senior FBI official told reporters on condition of anonymity.
The State Department is offering a reward of up to US$10 million for information leading to their location and arrest.
Source: CNA
