Security News > 2021 > April > US Sanctions Russia and Expels 10 Diplomats Over SolarWinds Cyberattack

"Russia's pattern of malign behaviour around the world - whether in cyberspace, in election interference or in the aggressive operations of their intelligence services - demonstrates that Russia remains the most acute threat to the U.K.'s national and collective security," the U.K. government said in a statement.

To that effect, the U.S. Department of the Treasury has imposed sweeping sanctions against Russia for "Undermining the conduct of free and fair elections and democratic institutions" in the U.S. and for its role in facilitating the sprawling SolarWinds hack, while also barring six technology companies in the country that provide support to the cyber program run by Russian Intelligence Services.

The companies include ERA Technopolis, Pasit, Federal State Autonomous Scientific Establishment Scientific Research Institute Specialized Security Computing Devices and Automation, Neobit, Advanced System Technology, and Pozitiv Teknolodzhiz, the last three of which are IT security firms whose customers are said to include the Russian Ministry of Defense, SVR, and Russia's Federal Security Service.

Besides infiltrating the networks of Microsoft, FireEye, Malwarebytes, and Mimecast, the attackers are also said to have used SolarWinds as a stepping stone to breaching several U.S. agencies such as the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the Federal Aviation Administration, and the Departments of State, Justice, Commerce, Homeland Security, Energy, Treasury, and the National Institutes of Health.

The National Security Agency, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation have jointly released an advisory, warning businesses of active exploitation of five publicly known vulnerabilities by APT29 to gain initial footholds into victim devices and networks -.

"We see what Russia is doing to undermine our democracies," said U.K. Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab.

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