The Justice Department has announced charges against two Russian intelligence officers, Ruslan Aleksandrovich Peretyatko and Andrey Stanislavovich Korinets, for allegedly engaging in a global hacking campaign that targeted military and government officials in multiple countries, including the United States, United Kingdom, Ukraine, and NATO-member nations.

Peretyatko and Korinets are accused of leading the "Callisto Group," a sophisticated cybercriminal organization that employed spear-phishing campaigns to gain unauthorized access to various victims between 2016 and 2022. The group's targets included current and former employees of the U.S. intelligence community, Department of Defense, State Department, defense contractors, and Energy Department facilities.

According to the indictment, the "Callisto Group" also extended its cyber-attacks to military and government officials in the U.K., as well as journalists, in an attempt to influence the country's 2019 elections. The group allegedly leaked information from several victims to the press in Russia and the U.K.

The charges against the two Russian officers specifically outline one count of conspiracy to obtain unauthorized access to steal information from computers. While there is no evidence of destructive actions taken against the compromised computers, officials have revealed that the perpetrators transmitted malicious code that could have potentially impacted some of the data.

Notably, Peretyatko and Korinets are allegedly associated with Center 18 of Russia's FSB, which is the Russian counterpart to the FBI in combating cybercrimes.

The prosecution's case indicates that the "Callisto Group" employed "spoofed" email accounts to deceive victims into disclosing login details, which were then exploited to gain persistent access to their systems. They also sent emails disguised as warnings from email providers, suggesting account violations.

The scope of the successful targeting and the extent of the compromised information are still unknown.

Though the two accused officers are currently not in U.S. custody, the U.S. Treasury Department has imposed sanctions on them for their reported roles in leading the cybercriminal group. Meanwhile, the U.S. State Department is offering rewards of up to $10 million for any information that leads to their arrest.

In a response to the U.K. election interference allegations, the U.K. government will be announcing its own sanctions and has summoned Russia's ambassador to convey that such actions are unacceptable. Officials have warned that future similar efforts will result in further consequences.

As the investigation unfolds, authorities will continue their efforts to hold these individuals accountable for their alleged involvement in the global hacking campaign and to safeguard national security from cyber threats.