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U.S. charges 4 Russian government workers with hacking energy sector:
The U.S. Justice Department fired another legal salvo against Russia on Thursday, announcing indictments against four Russian government employees for an alleged hacking campaign targeting the energy sector that lasted for years and targeted computers in 135 countries.
An indictment in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia charges that Evgeny Viktorovich Gladkikh, who worked at a Russian Ministry of Defense research institute, conspired with others to damage critical infrastructure outside the United States, causing emergency shutdowns at one foreign facility. Thosecharged in the indictment, under seal since June 2021, also allegedly tried to hack the computers of a U.S. firm that managed similar facilities in the United States.
A separate indictment filed in Kansas alleges that a hacking campaign launched by Russian's federal security service, or FSB, targeted computers at hundreds of energy-related entities around the world. That indictment was also filed under seal last summer.
The hacking activity took place between 2012 and 2018, U.S. officials said. The decision to reveal the indictments underscores the concern U.S. and European officials have about Russia unleashing a wave of cyberattacks on the West in response to a new wave of sanctions over Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Deputy Attorney General Lisa O. Monaco said there is an "urgent ongoing need for American businesses to harden their defenses and remain vigilant." She said Russian state-sponsored hackers "pose a serious and persistent threat to critical infrastructure both in the United States and around the world."
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 29 2022, @01:26AM (3 children)
A VPN lowers the attack surface, but sweetens the reward.
If the bad guy manages to break into the VPN, then he is in a system which assumes it doesn't have to worry.
Also, if you manage to hack a VPN vendor's equipment, you get each of his users in one hack.
VPN's are good in theory, but not as good as not being connected in the first place.
(Score: 2) by RS3 on Tuesday March 29 2022, @08:33AM
All excellent points. However, the context is that some kind of communication is necessary, and how best to do it as safely as possible.
Possibly, maybe likely, but not necessarily.
So how about a VPN within a VPN. And several "honeypots" in the mix with lots of somewhat veiled disinformation in them.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 03 2022, @01:31PM (1 child)
I beg to differ. No one with a VPN wants to be hacked. No one wants to be hacked !
(Score: 2) by martyb on Sunday April 03 2022, @01:36PM
Wit is intellect, dancing.