US says Russian hackers have collected intelligence from American defense contractors
By Sean Lyngaas, CNN
Russian government-backed hackers have managed to acquire sensitive information on the development and deployment of US weapons by breaching American defense contractors over the last two years, US security agencies said on Wednesday.
It’s one of the clearest public statements yet from the US government on how Kremlin-linked hackers have gathered intelligence on US defense contractors, and comes as the Biden administration warns Russia against further invading Ukraine.
US government agencies have for years regularly released information on state-sponsored hacking threats, and US officials continue to say there is no credible, specific cyber threat to the US homeland tied to the Ukraine crisis.
“These continued intrusions have enabled the actors to acquire sensitive, unclassified information, as well as CDC [cleared defense contractors]-proprietary and export-controlled technology,” says the advisory from the FBI, National Security Agency and US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.
Contractors targeted by the Russian hackers over the last two years have been involved in aircraft design and the development of combat and weapons systems, among other things, the US agencies said.
The Russian embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the US advisory. Russia routinely denies allegations that it conducts hacking operations.
This story is breaking and will be updated.
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