LONDON — For years, Russia has tormented neighboring international locations with focused cyberattacks, together with blackouts in Ukraine and broa
LONDON — For years, Russia has tormented neighboring international locations with focused cyberattacks, together with blackouts in Ukraine and broad on-line assaults on Estonian establishments.
America has not often publicly attributed blame, although specialists discovered the fingerprints of the Kremlin on these intrusions overseas.
In a break from previous observe, the State Division mentioned publicly on Thursday that Russia had been behind a sweeping cyberattack final fall within the former Soviet republic of Georgia. It affected greater than 2,000 authorities and privately run web sites, disrupted authorities operations, and interrupted tv broadcasts, together with that of the nationwide tv station.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo particularly attributed the assault to the Russian military intelligence agency known as the G.R.U. and its Principal Middle for Particular Know-how. The State Division linked the Russian navy unit to a notorious Russian hacker group known as Sandworm, which is believed to be answerable for a few of the most brazen cyberattacks around the globe over the previous decade.
Mr. Pompeo said in a statement: “This motion contradicts Russia’s makes an attempt to say it’s a accountable actor in our on-line world and demonstrates a unbroken sample of reckless Russian G.R.U. cyberoperations in opposition to various international locations. These operations purpose to sow division, create insecurity, and undermine democratic establishments.”
Mr. Pompeo pledged to assist Georgia and different nations threatened by cyberaggression from Russia. “America calls on Russia to stop this habits in Georgia and elsewhere,” he added. “The soundness of our on-line world is dependent upon the accountable habits of countries.”
America was joined by Australia and Britain in blaming Russia and condemning the “reckless” assault.
The October cyberattack on Georgia, the place Russia engaged in a lethal five-day battle a decade in the past over separatist areas, was a broad assault. For instance, the picture of former President Mikheil Saakashvili was pasted to the house pages of many websites, with the caption, “I’ll be again.”
Mr. Saakashvili was in energy in Georgia from 2004 to 2013, having served two phrases as president. He gave up his Georgian citizenship in 2015 and is wanted in the country on criminal charges, which he says are politically motivated.
Vladimer Konstantinidi, a spokesman for Georgia’ overseas ministry, instructed reporters at a information briefing on Thursday, “The investigation performed by the Georgian authorities, along with info gathered via cooperation with companions, concluded that this cyberattack was deliberate and carried out by the primary division of the Normal Employees of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation.”
Russia’s Overseas Ministry denied that Moscow was behind the assault, with the information website RIA quoting Deputy Overseas Minister Andrey Rudenko as saying, “Russia didn’t plan and isn’t planning to intrude in Georgia’s inner affairs in any method.”