The United States and nine allied nations have formally accused the Russian government of masterminding a series of cyberattacks in 2020 on Ukrainian critical infrastructure, among other targets. This joint statement comes a day after the Justice Department took separate steps to call out Russian malicious cyber activity, highlighting the ongoing threat posed by Moscow's hackers to US and allied nation networks.

The FBI, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, and the National Security Agency, in collaboration with agencies from the Netherlands, Germany, Estonia, the Czech Republic, the United Kingdom, Latvia, Australia, Canada, and Ukraine, released a joint alert detailing the cyberattacks. The attacks, carried out using a malware called "WhisperGate," have been attributed to GRU Unit 29155, a Russian military hacking group.

The hacking campaign began in 2020 and included attacks on Ukrainian groups in January 2022, just prior to Russia's invasion, as well as on critical infrastructure organizations in government, transportation, finance, healthcare, and other sectors in NATO member states. The US and the European Union had previously blamed Russia for the devastating 2022 cyberattack on Ukraine, which resulted in the wipeout of government and private sector systems.

In a significant move, the Justice Department unveiled indictments against five individuals allegedly belonging to GRU officers involved in Unit 29155, along with an additional Russian civilian accused of cooperating with them. As part of this announcement, the State Department offered a staggering $10 million reward per person for any information that could lead to the arrest of the indicted individuals.

According to the FBI, the cyberattacks involved over 14,000 instances of network scanning in more than 20 NATO member states and European nations. The targets also extended to groups in Central American and Asian countries. The attacks often entailed website defacement and the theft and posting of stolen data online.

Investigating agencies concluded that Unit 29155 was operating under the direction of GRU officers but employed cybercriminals to carry out their operations. The Justice Department revealed that the group was responsible for various attacks, including probing an unnamed Maryland-based US government agency between August 2021 and February 2022, as well as hacking the transportation infrastructure of an undisclosed Central European country supportive of Ukraine in mid-2022.

Tanel Sepp, the Estonian ambassador at large for cyber diplomacy, expressed that the delayed attribution of these cyberattacks to Russia provided impacted nations with a greater understanding of the scale of these incidents. Sepp stated, "Now, we can prove it, and put concrete names behind these attacks." Notably, this is the first time that the Estonian government, a frequent target of suspected Russian-linked cyberattacks, has officially attributed such attacks on its systems to another nation. This includes compromises of three Estonian ministries, including the Estonian Foreign Ministry, in late 2020.

The joint statement serves as a strong condemnation of Russia's cyber aggression and underscores the necessity for increased international cooperation to combat these threats. By shining a light on the individuals responsible and offering substantial rewards for their capture, the US and its allies aim to hold Russia accountable for its malicious cyber activities and deter future attacks.