Russian Amin Timovich Stigal has been indicted by the U.S. Justice Department for his alleged involvement in the WhisperGate wiper malware attack against Ukrainian critical infrastructure systems prior to the country being invaded by Russia in early 2022, The Register reports.
Such charges, which could result in up to five years imprisonment for Stigal, have been accompanied by a bounty program by the State Department that would give up $10 million in exchange for any information regarding the Russian hacker's whereabouts and other criminal activity. Attacks conducted by the Russian state-backed threat group Cadet Blizzard involved the use of WhisperGate to erase data from Ukrainian critical infrastructure networks, as well as the theft of personal information, online espionage, and government website defacement, court documents showed. "As alleged, the defendant conspired with Russian military intelligence on the eve of Russia's unjust and unprovoked invasion of Ukraine to launch cyber attacks targeting the Ukrainian government and later targeting its allies, including the United States," said U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland.
