US intelligence services have charged a group of five Russian hackers linked to Unit 29155 of Russia’s Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces (GRU), as well as one civilian hacker working for the Russian Government. This puts the Russian military intelligence agency at the center of critical infrastructure attacks on NATO member states.
The five GRU members have been charged in connection with a series of attacks known as ‘Whisper Gate’ which were carried out in January of 2022. The operations targeted Ukraine’s government agencies and infrastructure, and are largely understood as a precursor to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The US State Department has offered a $10 million bounty for information on each of the six suspects through its Rewards for Justice program. The GRU is also reported to have targeted the computer systems of 26 other NATO countries which were providing support to Ukraine, a strategy we have seen deployed many times before.
