Journalists Present New Evidence of Russian Involvement in Cyberattacks

The Insider, together with Bellingcat, have presented evidence of Russian involvement in cyberattacks in the whole world.

“Essentially, all of the GRU agents are compromised, because fortunately or unfortunately, depending on your stance, their personal data is very easy to find. Hence, the organisation cannot exist in its old form, it is just very dangerous for its employees,” said Roman Dobrokhotov, editor-in-chief of The Insider.

This is just another blow to the reputation of the Russia’s Main Intelligence Directorate. The Insider has identified roughly 300 cars that are registered to the military unit 26165, the designation of the GRU in the state traffic police database.

“Their names, passport data, cell phone numbers. It seems like only employees of other special services can get this data,” said Roman Dobrokhotov.

GRU cyberattacks stepped up right after the start of the war in Ukraine. Since 2014, in the backdrop of the worsening relations with the West, attacks on the servers of state institutions, private companies and media became more frequent, and information about them is easy to uncover.

“Such a big evidence has accumulated, that now when phishing emails are received, gmail notifies that you that government hackers are attacking your account,” said Roman Dobrokhotov.

Back in may 2017, The Insider established that one of the most infamous Kremlin hacker groups ART28 (Fancy Bear/Pawnstorm) includes current GRU employees. Russian agents arrested in the Netherlands belonged to the same unit.

“The GRU is an aggressive, well-funded official body of the Russian state. It can no longer be allowed to act aggressively across the world, and against vital international organisations, with apparent immunity,” said Peter Wilson, British Ambassador to the Netherlands and UK Permanent Representative to the Organisation of Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.

According to data of the U.K’s National Cyber Security Centre, GRU hacker groups have almost certainly commenced several serious cyberattacks against the U.K., the U.S., and even Russia itself.