Russia Denies US And UK Hacking Allegations

JAKARTA - The Russian Embassy in Washington has denied allegations of involvement by Russian state structures in cyber attacks on various objects in the United States and beyond, according to a joint document by the US and UK special services published on Thursday, July 1.

"We categorically deny the involvement of Russian Government agencies in attacks on government and private facilities in the United States and abroad," the statement said.

"We emphasize that fighting cyber crime is an inherent priority for Russia and is an integral part of the country's policy to combat all forms of crime. Various law enforcement instruments are used for its implementation. Given its global nature, cyber threats are increasingly becoming a challenge for strategic stability, the most effective way to combat it is to ensure active interaction between relevant state institutions of the two countries," the Russian Embassy said.

"On September 25, 2020, the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin proposed a comprehensive program of measures to restore Russian-American cooperation in the field of international information security. Among other things, it was proposed to maintain continuous and effective channels of communication between the competent authorities of the two countries, " said the statement.

The Russian Embassy hopes that the United States side will abandon the practice of baseless accusations and focus on professional work with Russian experts to strengthen international information security, and in this context, on joint efforts to combat cybercrime.

Earlier on Thursday, the US National Security Agency, the US National Cybersecurity Division, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the UK Center for National Cybersecurity, published a joint document claiming a cyberattack by Russia's Main Intelligence Directorate.

The attacks are said to have been carried out from early 2019 to early 2021 around the world, targeting both government and private sectors. The Russian side has repeatedly denied engaging in any malicious activity online.

Citing Reuters, Russian spies are accused of meddling in the 2016 US presidential election, abusing virtual private networks (VPNs) to target hundreds of organizations around the world.

The allegation points to Unit 26165, the Russian military spy agency's arm whose officers have been charged with allegedly breaking into US Democratic Party email, using VPNs and Tor, a privacy-focused network, to carry out the dissemination, distribution and anonymized brute force access attempts against hundreds of government and private sector targets.

Unit 26165 first came to light in mid-2018, when a dozen of its members were indicted during special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 US presidential election that Donald Trump won.

Meanwhile, later that year, members of the unit were also indicted in connection with attempted hacking of international anti-doping officials.