Russian Ransomware Group Suddenly Goes Offline

[applegrove]

Russian Ransomware Group Suddenly Goes Offline

July 13, 2021 at 1:16 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard 64 Comments

https://politicalwire.com/2021/07/13/russian-ransomware-group-suddenly-goes-offline/

"SNIP......

“Just days after President Biden called President Vladimir Putin of Russia and demanded that he act to shut down ransomware groups that are attacking American targets, the biggest of them has gone off-line,” the New York Times reports.

“The mystery is who made that happen.”

......SNIP"

[unblock]

1. Shell game, most likely.

[Qutzupalotl]

2. I wonder if this is Biden's response.

Reminds me of when Obama turned out the lights in all of North Korea after they hacked Sony.

[kysrsoze]

3. I certainly hope this is the case. I'd like to see the lights flicker throughout Russia, plus

some more painful sanctions. Putin needs to be brought back in line.

[bluewater]

5. "U.S. Escalates Online Attacks on Russia's Power Grid"

By David E. Sanger and Nicole Perlroth
June 15, 2019

WASHINGTON — The United States is stepping up digital incursions into Russia’s electric power grid in a warning to President Vladimir V. Putin and a demonstration of how the Trump administration is using new authorities to deploy cybertools more aggressively, current and former government officials said.

In interviews over the past three months, the officials described the previously unreported deployment of American computer code inside Russia’s grid and other targets as a classified companion to more publicly discussed action directed at Moscow’s disinformation and hacking units around the 2018 midterm elections.

Advocates of the more aggressive strategy said it was long overdue, after years of public warnings from the Department of Homeland Security and the F.B.I. that Russia has inserted malware that could sabotage American power plants, oil and gas pipelines, or water supplies in any future conflict with the United States.

But it also carries significant risk of escalating the daily digital Cold War between Washington and Moscow.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/15/us/politics/trump-cyber-russia-grid.html

What goes around comes around?

[Qutzupalotl]

6. I would too, but keep in mind

we are vulnerable as hell with our electric infrastructure. If we go down that road, it's likely to escalate. Maybe a detente like we did with nukes is the best way forward.

[GoCubsGo]

4. This is a good reminder to make sure one's emergency preparedness is in order.

Like making sure you have sufficient batteries, solar chargers, canned goods, etc. Not just because it's hurricane and wildfire season, but because these fuckers will probably try to shut down the power grid at some point. They have already been in there snooping around on multiple occasions.

[Volaris]

8. Another Democratic argument for solar panels and a de-centralized grid.

What's putin gonna do, hack 100 million individual circuit breakers?
Didnt think so.