US offers up to $10M reward for information on Russian cybercriminals

The US Department of State’s Rewards for Justice (RFJ) is offering up to $10 million for information that helps identify or locate individuals involved in malicious cyber activities against critical US infrastructure, as reported in an official statement of the US Department of State.

• In particular, RFJ is seeking information on six officers of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces (GRU) for their role in criminal cyber activities against the United States.
• The US Department of State also revealed the names of the suspects. They are Yuriy Sergeyevich Andrienko, Sergey Vladimirovich Detistov, Pavel Valeryevich Frolov, Anatoliy Sergeyevich Kovalev, Artem Valeryevich Ochichenko, and Petr Nikolayevich Pliskin.
• According to the satetement, all these individuals work in the GRU’s Unit 74455, also known by cybersecurity researchers as Sandworm Team, Telebots, Voodoo Bear, and Iron Viking.
• RFJ suspects these individuals of spreading malware known as NotPetya in the United States and worldwide in June 2017. The cyberattack damaged computers at hospitals, other Heritage Valley medical facilities, and private entities and caused nearly $1 billion in losses to US organizations.
• On October 15, 2020, a federal grand jury indicted these six Russian officers on counts of conspiracy to commit computer fraud, wire fraud, damaging protected computers, and aggravated identity theft.
• RJF ask people with information about the suspects to contact them via the Tor-based tips-reporting channel at: he5dybnt7sr6cm32xt77pazmtm65flqy6irivtflruqfc5ep7eiodiad.onion