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US Indicts Russian Intelligence Officials over Cyberattacks Targeting Ukraine

FILE PHOTO: A man holds a laptop computer as cyber code is projected on him in this illustration picture taken on May 13, 2017. REUTERS/Kacper Pempel/Illustration/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A man holds a laptop computer as cyber code is projected on him in this illustration picture taken on May 13, 2017. REUTERS/Kacper Pempel/Illustration/File Photo
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US Indicts Russian Intelligence Officials over Cyberattacks Targeting Ukraine

FILE PHOTO: A man holds a laptop computer as cyber code is projected on him in this illustration picture taken on May 13, 2017. REUTERS/Kacper Pempel/Illustration/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A man holds a laptop computer as cyber code is projected on him in this illustration picture taken on May 13, 2017. REUTERS/Kacper Pempel/Illustration/File Photo

The US on Thursday charged five Russian intelligence officials and a Russian civilian with conspiring to launch cyberattacks against Ukraine and its allies in a bid to hobble Ukraine.
In a revised indictment unsealed on Thursday, the Justice Department said a cyber unit of Russia's military intelligence agency conducted "large-scale cyber operations" starting as far back as 2020, before Russia's February 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
The original indictment, filed in June in the US District Court for the District of Maryland, only named a single defendant: Amin Stigal.
According to Reuters, it accused him of conspiring with Russia's military intelligence agency, known as the Main Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff, or GRU, to launch cyber attacks against computer systems in Ukraine and other countries, including a computer network maintained by an unnamed US agency in Maryland.
Thursday's news comes just one day after the US took several legal actions against Russia to combat alleged efforts to meddle in the 2024 presidential elections, including charging two employees of the Russian state media network RT and sanctioning RT and its top network editor.
It also came on the same day that the Justice Department announced it had secured two indictments against Russian TV contributor Dimitri Simes and his wife over sanctions violations and money laundering.
Earlier on Thursday, intelligence agencies in the US and the United Kingdom warned that a cyber espionage group located within Russia's GRU known as "Unit 29155" was destructively targeting critical national infrastructure.
Unit 29155, which is the group at the heart of Thursday's indictment, is a covert part of the GRU which carries out subversion, sabotage and assassination missions outside Russia, Western officials told Reuters.

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South Korea Says North Korea Has again Launched Trash-carrying Balloons across the Border

North Korea resumes sending balloons carrying trash over the border to South Korea (Reuters)
North Korea resumes sending balloons carrying trash over the border to South Korea (Reuters)
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South Korea Says North Korea Has again Launched Trash-carrying Balloons across the Border

North Korea resumes sending balloons carrying trash over the border to South Korea (Reuters)
North Korea resumes sending balloons carrying trash over the border to South Korea (Reuters)

North Korea is flying more trash-carrying balloons toward South Korea, officials said Thursday, in the latest round of Cold War-style psychological warfare between the rivals.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said it detected more balloons launched from North Korea on Thursday morning following launches the previous evening.
Since May, North Korea has flown thousands of balloons toward South Korea to drop substances such as wastepaper, cloth scraps, cigarette butts and even manure, in what it described as retaliation against South Korean civilian activists who fly anti-North Korean propaganda leaflets across the border.
North Korea is extremely sensitive to any outside criticism of its authoritarian leadership and its third-generation ruler, Kim Jong Un.
The joint chiefs said North Korea launched around 420 balloons from Wednesday evening to early Thursday and about 20 of them had been discovered so far in Seoul, the South Korean capital, and nearby Gyeonggi province. It said the balloons that landed were filled with paper waste, plastic bottles and other trash but contained no hazardous materials.
The joint chiefs said North Korea was launching another set of balloons as of 9 a.m. It advised people to report to the police or military if they see any fallen balloons and not to touch them.
An Associated Press photojournalist spotted several sets of white balloons, which were tied in pairs, floating in the air above the inter-Korean border area from an observatory in the South Korean border city of Paju.
Seoul’s city government issued text alerts Wednesday evening as the North Korean balloons began appearing over South Korean territory, advising people to stay indoors and beware of objects dropping from the sky.
Trash carried by at least one North Korean balloon fell on the South Korean presidential compound in July, raising concerns about the vulnerability of key South Korean facilities. Officials said the balloon contained no dangerous material and no one was hurt.
South Korea, in response to the North Korean balloons, has reactivated its front-line loudspeakers to blast propaganda messages and K-pop songs toward the North.
The tit-for-tat Cold War-style campaigns are adding to tensions fueled by North Korea’s growing nuclear ambitions and South Korea’s expansion of joint military exercises with the United States.