US sanctions two members of Russian hacking group for operations against its critical infrastructure

Follow the latest news on the war in Ukraine live

Jul 20 () –

U.S. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller announced Friday sanctions against two members of the Russian hacker group Reborn (CARR) for their involvement in cyberattacks against U.S. “critical infrastructure.”

Miller noted that the group “has been carrying out malicious cyber activities against Ukraine and the governments that support it” since 2022, intensifying its activity in late 2023, when it “claimed responsibility for compromising the industrial control systems of multiple critical infrastructure targets in the United States and Europe.”

“Since then, CARR has been responsible for a range of malicious cyber activities targeting water, hydroelectric, wastewater and power facilities in the United States and Europe,” the spokesman said in a statement.

In this regard, Washington has denounced that “Russia continues to provide a safe haven for cybercriminals and facilitate their malicious cyber activities against the United States and its allies and partners.”

The note warns that while “CARR’s lack of sophistication and victim responses have so far prevented significant damage, unauthorized access to critical infrastructure systems poses a high risk of harm to the public and can have devastating humanitarian consequences.”

This measure is part of the United States’ “efforts” to “combat malicious foreign cyber activity” and its purpose is to make clear that “this activity will not be tolerated.” “We will continue to dismantle cybercriminals who attempt to undermine our critical infrastructure and that of our partners,” the State Department said.