The United States and the United Kingdom on Thursday jointly issued new sanctions against seven individuals allegedly part of a Russian cybercrime group with links to the Kremlin’s intelligence services, resulting in a freeze on their assets and visa restrictions.
This is a joint operation between the Treasury offices of both countries, as well as the British Foreign Office and National Crime Agency. These individuals are accused of launching a wide range of cyber-attacks against businesses and public sector organizations.
«Cybercriminals, particularly those based in Russia, are seeking to attack critical infrastructure, U.S. companies and exploit the international financial system,» explained U.S. Treasury Undersecretary Brian Nelson.
For his part, UK Foreign Secretary James Cleverly stressed that this joint action between Washington and London sends «a clear signal» to all those involved in such activities.
«These cynical cyber attacks cause real damage to life. We will always put our national security first by protecting the UK and our allies from organized crime, whatever its form and wherever it originates,» Cleverly stressed.
For the U.S. Treasury Department, «Russia is a haven for cybercriminals,» with these groups «freely perpetrating harmful cyber activities» against Western allies, attacking critical infrastructure such as «hospitals and medical centers during a global pandemic,» and even serving as a money laundering tool.
The seven sanctioned are part of the group known as Trickbot, first reported in 2016, named after a type of virus that was used to be infiltrated into banking institutions to steal financial data, and even during the pandemic to hinder medical treatments.
Those singled out are Vitali Kovalev, with indictments in the United States for tax fraud; Maksim Mikhailov, Valentin Kariagin, Mikhail Iskritski, Dimitri Pleshevski, Ivan Vajromeyev and Valery Sedletski.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
