Russia spies foreign ‘cyber chaos’ plot
Print Edition
RUSSIA said yesterday it had uncovered a plot by foreign spy agencies to sow chaos in its banking system via a coordinated wave of cyber attacks and fake social media reports about banks going bust.
Russia’s domestic intelligence agency, the Federal Security Service, said that the servers used in the alleged cyber attack were in the Netherlands and registered to a Ukrainian web hosting company, BlazingFast.
The attack, which was to target major national and provincial banks in several cities, was to start on Monday, the FSB said in a statement.
“It was planned that the cyber attack would be accompanied by a mass send-out of SMS messages and publications in social media of a provocative nature regarding a crisis in the Russian banking system, bankruptcies and license withdrawals,” it said.
“The FSB is carrying out the necessary measures to neutralise threats to Russia’s economic and information security.”
The statement did not say which countries’ intelligence agencies were involved.
Russia’s central bank said it was aware of the threat and was in contact with the security services. It said it had drawn up a plan to counteract any attack.
“The situation is under control. Banks have been given necessary guidance,” the central bank said.
Anton Onoprichuk, director of Kiev-based BlazingFast, said neither the FSB nor any other intelligence agency had been in touch with his company.
Asked if his servers could be used to mount a cyber attack he said: “Technically it is possible. It is possible with any hosting company, where you rent a server. You can attack whatever (you want) from it and in 99 percent of cases it will become known only after the event.”
Russia has been on high alert for foreign-inspired cyber attacks since US officials accused the Kremlin of being involved in hacks on Democratic Party e-mails during the US presidential election.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
