EU imposes sanctions on six Russian hackers

The Council of the European Union has approved additional restrictive measures against six Russian hackers involved in cyberattacks against EU countries and Ukraine.

Source: Statement by the EU Council

Quote: "For the first time, restrictive measures are being taken against cybercriminal actors that use ransomware campaigns against essential services, such as health and banking," the Council of the EU added.

Details: The new lists include two members of the Callisto Group, Ruslan Peretyatko and Andrey Korinets.

The Callisto Group is a group of Russian military intelligence officers who conduct cyber operations against EU member states and third countries through sustained phishing campaigns aimed at stealing sensitive data relating to critical government functions, including defence and foreign relations.

The sanctions were also imposed on Alexander Sklyanko and Nikolai Chernykh of the Armageddon hacker group, which is overseen by the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB). The group carried out various cyberattacks on the governments of EU member states and Ukraine, including through phishing emails and malware, Brussels said.

The sanctions also targeted Mikhail Tsarev and Maksim Galochkin, key players in the deployment of the Conti and Trickbot malware, as well as members of the Wizard Spider hacker group. Trickbot is a malicious spyware created and developed by the Wizard Spider group, which has conducted ransomware campaigns in various sectors, including essential services such as healthcare and banking, and is therefore responsible for significant economic losses in the European Union.

In total, the EU cyber sanctions regime has been applied to 14 individuals and 4 legal entities. It provides for the freezing of assets and a ban on the entry of cybercriminals into the EU, as well as the seizure of their accounts in banks in EU member states.

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