US, UK, EU Warn of Russian Cyberattacks: Targeting Infrastructure and NATO Member Countries

The U.S. government has indicted five Russian intelligence officials and one Russian civilian on charges of plotting cyberattacks against Ukraine and NATO member countries.

According to the U.S. Department of Justice, the indictment was announced on September 5, 2024, and targets five members of Unit 29155, a special forces unit under the General Reconnaissance Directorate (GRU), a military intelligence agency, and Russian civilian Amin Stigal.

The Justice Department alleges that the defendants have been conducting large-scale cyber operations against Ukraine since 2020, before the invasion of Ukraine. At least 26 NATO member countries also appear to have been targeted in an effort to find weaknesses in their systems.

The indictment is an amended version of the original indictment filed in June in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland, which only charged Amin Stigal. The Justice Department now alleges that Stigal conspired with Unit 29155 to launch cyberattacks on computer systems in Ukraine and other countries, including those maintained by U.S. government agencies.

Intelligence agencies from the United States, the United Kingdom, and the European Union (EU) have warned that Unit 29155 is targeting key national infrastructure. Unit 29155 is a special forces unit that carries out operations outside of Russia to overthrow the regime, destroy it, and assassinate it, and also has cyber attack capabilities.

Unit 29155 has been linked to several high-profile incidents, including the attempted assassination of a former Russian spy in the UK in 2018 and the attempted coup in Montenegro two years ago. The unit is also known to have used malware called ‘Whispergate’ to sabotage and deface Ukrainian government systems months before the war.