The United Kingdom and the United States on Monday (19) condemned what they described as cyber attacks allegedly orchestrated by Russian spy service agents, including attempts to target the Tokyo Olympics.
British and American officials said the attacks were carried out by Unit 74455 of the Russian military spy agency GRU, also known as the Main Center for Special Technologies. The US Justice Department said six members of the unit played key roles in attacks on targets ranging from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons to the 2017 elections in France. The charges include four years of activities between 2015 and 2019.
The US authorities did not comment on whether the timing of the disclosure, just weeks before the US elections, was chosen to warn of the activity of groups of terrorists. Hackers With support from foreign governments. The British authorities have already stated that Hackers Russian military intelligence also conducted “cyber reconnaissance” operations against the organizers of the Tokyo Olympics, which were scheduled to be held this year but ended up being postponed to 2021 due to the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic.
British authorities refused to provide further details about the attacks or determine whether they were successful, but said they targeted organizers, suppliers and sponsors of the Olympics. British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said: “The actions of Russian military intelligence against the Olympics are ridiculous and reckless. We condemn them in the strongest possible terms.”
“The FBI has repeatedly warned that Russia is a highly capable cyberattack adversary, and the information disclosed in this indictment demonstrates just how invasive and destructive Russian cyber activities are,” said FBI Deputy Director David Bowditch.
In December 2019, Russia was banned from participating in the Olympics for four years due to allegations of doping among its athletes.
British and North American authorities said on Monday (19) that Russian hackers were involved in other attacks, such as the one that hacked the computer systems of the 2018 Winter Games, during the opening ceremony in South Korea. This attack resulted in the hacking of hundreds of computers, interruption of Internet access and interrupted media broadcasts.
