U.S. charges 7 Russian intel officers with hacking
WASHINGTON, DC - The U.S. Justice Department has charged seven Russian military intelligence officers with hacking anti-doping agencies and other organizations.
An indictment announced in Washington on Thursday says Russia's military intelligence agency, known as the GRU, targeted the hacking victims because they had publicly supported a ban on Russian athletes in international sports competitions and because they had condemned Russia's state-sponsored athlete doping program.
Prosecutors say the Russians also targeted a Pennsylvania-based nuclear energy company and an international organization that was investigating chemical weapons in Syria and the poisoning of a former GRU officer.
The indictment says the hacking was often conducted remotely. If that wasn't successful, the hackers would conduct "on-site" or "close access" hacking operations with trained GRU members traveling with sophisticated equipment to target their victims through Wi-Fi networks