INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
The United States Federal Bureau of Investigation has wrested control of thousands of routers and firewall appliances away from Russian
military hackers by hijacking the same infrastructure Moscow&s spies were using to communicate with the devices, United States officials
said on Wednesday.An unsealed redacted affidavit described the unusual operation as a pre-emptive move to stop Russian hackers from
mobilizing the compromised devices into a &botnet& & a network of hacked computers that can bombard other servers with rogue
traffic.Fortunately, we were able to disrupt this botnet before it could be used,& United States Attorney General Merrick Garland said.The
Russian Embassy in Washington did not immediately return an email seeking comment.The targeted botnet was controlled through malware called
Cyclops Blink, which United States and UK cyberdefense agencies had publicly attributed in late February to &Sandworm,& allegedly one of
the Russian military intelligence service&s hacking teams that has repeatedly been accused of carrying out cyberattacks.Cyclops Blink was
designed to hijack devices made by WatchGuard Technologies Inc (WTCHG.UL) and ASUSTeK Computer Inc (2357.TW), according to research by
private cybersecurity firms
It provides Russian services with access to those compromised systems, offering the ability to remotely exfiltrate or delete data or turn
the devices against a third party.Watchguard issued a statement confirming it worked with the United States Justice Department to disrupt
the botnet but did not disclose the number of devices affected & saying only that they represented &less than 1 percent of WatchGuard
appliances.AsusTek, better known as Asus, did not immediately return messages seeking comment.FBI Director Chris Wray told reporters the
FBI, with court approval, secretly reached into thousands of routers and firewall appliances to delete the malware and reconfigure the
devices.We removed malware from devices used by thousands of mostly small businesses for network security all over the world,& Wray said
&We shut the door the Russians had used to get into them.The affidavit noted that United States officials launched an awareness campaign
''to inform owners of WatchGuard devices of the steps they should take to remediate infections or vulnerabilities& and yet less than half
the devices had been fixed to expel the hackers.The affidavit noted that the FBI had carried out its work in cooperation with WatchGuard.The
announcement came amid a flurry of new sanctions announced against Russian banks and elites, days after grim images emerged of the bodies of
civilians shot at close range in the town of Bucha.Russia says its &special military operation& is aimed at demilitarizing and &denazifying&
Ukraine, and it has denied targeting civilians.The post United States FBI says it disrupted Russian hackers first appeared on Ariana News.
