Russian government bodies have been hit by a “professional” cyber-attack, the country’s intelligence service says.
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FSB – found a cyber-spying virus in computer networks of 20 state authorities and defense industry companies, the service’s PR department told TASS on Saturday. The agency did not speculate on who was behind the attacks.
It said the hack had been “planned and made professionally”, and targeted state organisations, scientific and defence companies, as well as “country’s critically important infrastructures”.
The security agency said that all the cases are linked and appear to be part of a well-coordinated attack requiring considerable expertise.
The report comes shortly after the USA media accused Russian Federation of hacking the DNC, claiming that the Kremlin wants to influence the outcome of the November presidential election.
The malware could be used to monitor internet traffic, take screenshots, secretly take recordings with an infected computer’s camera or microphone, log keyboard strokes and conduct other forms of surveillance, the FSB said.
The alleged spying plan comes just days after Russian hackers were accused of targeting US Democratic National Committee (DNC) computers, unearthing embarrassing documents that led to the party’s chairwoman stepping down. The Kremlin has denied any participation in the event.
But, her press secretary Nick Merrill said, there was “no evidence that our internal systems have been compromised”.
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However, both U.S. officials and cybersecurity experts have said the hacking likely originated in Russian Federation, opening the possibility that it was the result of an espionage operation.
