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| US sanctions against a Russian institute linked to malware |
On Friday, Washington imposed sanctions on a Russian state research agency, saying it had developed malicious tools that enabled cyberattacks on an undeclared petrochemical company in the Middle East in 2017, a move Russia described as illegal.
The US Treasury Department said the Russian government-backed Central Institute of Chemical and Mechanical Sciences - also known by the Russian acronym (TsNIIKhM) - was supporting the attack that targeted Triton malware on critical infrastructure at petrochemical plants in the Middle East. .
(Triton) is developed for industrial equipment and security systems. Washington said: Researchers who investigated the 2017 attack found that the malware should give attackers complete control over the infected system and could cause significant hardware damage and death.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said: The Russian government continues to engage in dangerous cyber activities against the United States and its allies.
The attack caught the attention of the cybersecurity community when it was first announced this year because, compared to the usual digital sabotage aimed at stealing or keeping data for extortion purposes, the attack appeared to target the organization. Doing severe damage to themselves by disrupting their security systems.
Nathan Probaker, an analyst at cybersecurity firm FireEye, said the severity of the threat was appalling. Find out the operation because such damage to the station's security system may have dire consequences, such as: b. Fire or explosion.
In response to the sanctions, Moscow urged Washington to drop unfounded allegations of misconduct and make the sanctions illegal.
The Russian Ambassador to the United States, Anatoly Antonov, said on social media: Unlike the United States, Russia does not attack cyberspace. We reiterate that any unilateral restriction is illegal.
In the past month, US officials have filed a series of lawsuits against hackers in Russia, China and Iran, imposing sanctions and warning many people against leaking government-sponsored numbers.