Interfax claims that Russian hacker group could be linked to the CIA
The arrested employees of the Information Security Center of the Russian Federal Security Service that were involved in the case against the Russian Shaltay-Boltay (Humpty-Dumpty) hacker group are suspected of leaking confidential information to the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, Russia's Interfax news agency reported, citing informed sources.
“The Head of the FSB’s Information Security Center, Sergey Mikhailov and his Deputy, Dmitry Dokuchaev are accused of violating their oaths and cooperating with the Central Intelligence Agency,” Interfax’s interlocutor claimed. At the same time, interlocutor didn’t specify whether they acted directly or through intermediaries.
According to Interfax, four people were arrested on this case. Apparently, the case centers on Vladimir Anikeev, a journalist believed to be a leader of Shaltay-Boltay, Sergey Mikhailov, Dmitry Dokuchaev and the former employee of Kaspersky Lab, Ruslan Stoyanov. Approximately eight individuals are on the list of accomplices. According to media, Mikhailov was a curator of the Shaltay-Boltay group in recent months and Dokuchaev perpetrated the hacks.
The group of hackers, calling themselves Shaltay-Boltay, or Anonymous International, made itself known several years ago. One of its best known attacks is the successful hack of Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev’s Twitter account in 2014. Hackers posted several tweets on behalf of the Prime Minister and then published the correspondence from different mailboxes allegedly owned by Medvedev.
The publication of correspondence of Russian President Putin’s aide, Vladislav Surkov, outlining the situation in Ukraine, Abkhazia and South Ossetia by Shaltay-Boltay is considered to be the latest large leakage. In particular, the media paid special attention to the document entitled Shatun (The Rocker). This document contained the plan to destabilize Ukraine and proposals on the formation of the Donetsk People’s Republic’s leadership.