Truss exposes ‘calculated and dangerous’ Russian spy plot on UK’s critical infrastructure

According to the UK National Cyber Security Centre, the personnel of the FSB’s Centre 16 are also known by the hacker group pseudonyms of “Berserk Bear”, “Energetic Bear” and “Crouching Yeti”.

According to intelligence gathered by the Government, the FSB’s “long raft of malign cyber activity” includes the targeting of various UK energy companies.

Centre 16 has also engaged in the “sustained and substantial” scanning and probing of computers networks associated with the American aviation sector, alongside the exfiltration of data from such systems and other key US targets.

Reports indicate that the FSB’s hackers have posed as the Russian Federal Tax Service in order to target Russian nationals with so-called spear-phishing attacks, in which individuals are sent fraudulent emails or SMS messages for the purposes of data theft or fraud.

A spear-phishing attack was also launched against the press secretary of the UK-based exiled Russian businessman Mikhail Khodorkovskiy, who has been a longstanding and outspoken critic of the Kremlin and its activities.

The FSB is also understood to have been monitoring a website Mr Khodorkovskiy established to expose corruption across the echelons of the Russian government.

Article source: https://www.express.co.uk/news/science/1586108/russia-spy-plot-uk-critical-infrastructure-exposed-lizz-truss-energy