Security News > 2024 > June > US offers $10 million for information on indicted WhisperGate malware suspect

A federal grand jury in Maryland returned an indictment charging a Russian citizen with conspiracy to hack into and destroy computer systems and data.

According to court documents, in Jan. 2022, members of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Federation conspired to use a U.S.-based company's services to distribute malware known in the cybersecurity community as WhisperGate to dozens of Ukrainian government entities' computer systems and destroy those systems and related data in advance of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The Conspirators infected computers on these networks with malware called WhisperGate, designed to look like ransomware.

As the indictment alleges, WhisperGate was a cyberweapon designed to destroy the target computer and related data completely.

In conjunction with these attacks, the Conspirators compromised several of the targeted Ukrainian computer systems, exfiltrated sensitive data, including patient health records, and defaced the websites to read: "Ukrainians! All information about you has become public, be afraid and expect the worst. This is for your past, present and future." That same day, the Conspirators offered the hacked data for sale on the internet.

The indictment further alleges that from Aug. 5, 2021, through Feb. 3, 2022, the Conspirators leveraged the same computer infrastructure they used in the Ukraine-related attacks to probe computers belonging to a federal government agency in Maryland in the same manner as they had initially probed the Ukrainian Government networks.

News URL

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2024/06/27/10-million-bounty-indicted-whispergate-malware-suspect/