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The Department of Justice has charged a Russian civilian with conspiracy to destroy Ukrainian governing electronic computer system as part of a far-flung hacking exertion by Russia ahead of its illegal intrusion of Ukraine .
U.S. prosecutors in Maryland said Wednesday that Amin Stigal , 22 , is want for avail to pose up host used by Russian government hackers that were used to found destructive cyberattacks on Ukraine politics ministry in January 2022 , a month before the Kremlin ordered tank and troop to cross Ukraine ’s borders .
The cyberattack campaign , have it off as “ WhisperGate , ” relied on so - calledwiper malware that masqueraded as ransomwarebut deliberately and irreversibly throw together the data on infected devices . Prosecutors said the cyberattacks were designed to “ sow in concern ” among Ukrainian civic society about the safety of their authorities ’s systems .
Stigal is also accused of helping the hacker cultivate for Russia ’s military intelligence social unit — known as the GRU — to aim ally of Ukraine , admit the United States , according tothe indictment against Stigal that was unsealed on Wednesday .
consort to the uncertain bill of indictment , Stigal allegedly used cryptocurrency to bear for and set up servers from an unnamed U.S.-based company , which admit the Russian GRU hacker to launch their cyberattacks place the Ukrainian political science with the information - destroying malware .
The Russian cyber-terrorist steal ream of data during the cyberattacks , include citizens ’ health data , criminal records and motor insurance data from Ukrainian governance organization , the indictment aver . The hackers later advertise the data for sales event on be intimate cybercrime forums .
U.S. prosecutors say the Russian drudge also aim an unidentified U.S. government agency based in Maryland scads of times between 2021 and 2022 prior to the invasion , allow prosecutors in the district to take jurisdiction over the case and endeavor to appoint Stigal .
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afterwards in October 2022 , the Russian hack used the same server set up by Stigal to target the transportation sphere of one unnamed primal European country , which U.S. prosecutors sound out deliver civilian and military help to Ukraine follow the invasion . The incident matches the timing ofan October 2022 cyberattack in Denmark , which caused mass outages and time lag across the land ’s railroad net at the time .
The U.S. government saidit ’s offering a $ 10 million bounty for informationleading to the whereabouts or seizure of Stigal , who remain at enceinte and is believed to be in Russia .
Stigal faces up to five years in prison if convicted .
