The cyber security firm CrowdStrike, which was hired by the DNC to investigate the pre-election hack, released a new report Wednesday that links the Russian intelligence agency (GRU) to the hacking of the Democratic National Committee.
Link Between Russia And Hackers
CrowdStrike investigated the security breach at the DNC back in the spring, as well as the later breach of Democratic campaign computer systems in July. These security breaches led to WikiLeaks exposing the internal emails of both the DNC and Democratic campaign, making an obvious impact on the U.S. election.
The hacking group CrowdStrike believes to be responsible – called FANCY BEAR – is thought to be tied to Russia’s GRU, the intelligence wing of the Russian military. The report released by CrowdStrike states that from 2014 to 2016, a piece of malware was created by FANCY BEAR and dubbed X-agent. This malware infected an app that was developed by the Ukrainian military to help artillery forces target their D-30 Howitzers. According to the report, this malware allowed Russia to collect communications and location data in order to identify positions of the Ukrainian artillery and take them out.
Given that CrowdStrike believes this same group is behind the DNC hacks, it is impossible to ignore their previous connection to the Russian military. The report states:
“…[This] further supports CrowdStrike’s previous assessments that Fancy Bear is likely affiliated with the Russian military intelligence (GRU).”
Officials Confident Russia Is Behind DNC Hacking
Last week, a U.S. official told CNN that the intelligence community has determined the hack could only have been carried out with involvement from the “highest levels” of the Russian government, including President Vladimir Putin. Based on this new report, CrowdStrike co-founder and chief technical officer Dmitri Alperovitch further confirmed to CNN they now have a high degree of confidence that a unit in the GRU was behind the DNC hack.
Watch the video below to see Seth Meyers breakdown the debacle caused by the hacking of the DNC.
Featured image by MARIAJONER via Wikimedia Commons/CC BY-SA 4.0
