Moscow denies US, British hacking allegations

Moscow is denying new hacking allegations detailed Thursday by the U.S. and United Kingdom.

The U.S. and U.K. intelligence agencies issued a joint advisory alleging that the Russian General Staff Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU) was using “brute force” hacking techniques to target hundreds of organizations around the world since 2019.

“We strictly deny the involvement of Russian government agencies in attacks ‘on government and private facilities in the United States and abroad,’ ” the Russian embassy in the U.S. said in a Facebook post on Thursday.

“We emphasize that fighting against cybercrime is an inherent priority for Russia and an integral part of its state policy to combat all forms of crime,” it continued.

The U.S. and U.K. alleged that over the past two years, hackers were able to access account credentials for these groups and use them for a multiple purposes, including “initial access, persistence, privilege escalation, and defense evasion.”

The organizations targeted where primarily based in the U.S. and Europe, and include multiple government and military agencies.

The GRU, which is backed by the Russian government, has been linked to hacking the Democratic National Committee’s network ahead of the 2016 presidential election, as well as more recent targeting of pharmaceutical companies and researchers during the coronavirus pandemic.

The embassy said it hopes the U.S. will “abandon the practice of unfounded accusations and focus on professional work with Russian experts to strengthen international information security, and in this context, on joint efforts to combat cybercrime.”

“Besides, it’s high time to put things in order on the American soil, from where constant attacks on critical infrastructure in Russia emerge,” it continued.