Mysterious hacker breaches 986 cryptocurrency wallets belonging to Russian special services to aid Ukraine
A mysterious hacker broke into 986 cryptocurrency wallets controlled by the Russian special services to aid Ukraine, the New Voice of Ukraine reported on June 11.
The first hacks took place weeks before the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion, wherein the unknown individual deleted $300,000 worth of Bitcoin, Coindesk first reported. However, following the start of the war, they started to send money to the Ukrainian government, according to Chainalysis, a cryptocurrency monitoring company.
It is believed, although not confirmed, that all the wallets belonged to Russia’s foreign military intelligence agency (GRU), the Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) and the Federal Security Service (FSB). Not all of the owners have been identified, but Chainalysis says at least three were linked to the Kremlin and two were allegedly involved in the SolarWinds software breach in 2020.
The hacker also left Russian messages to the owners of the wallets, claiming that the contents were used to pay for the services of hackers working for Moscow. Russia is known to utilise hackers as part of its aggression against Ukraine and other countries, launching waves of cyberattacks against Kyiv since the early days of the invasion.
The culprit either gained access to the wallets via hacking or as part of an inside job, with analysts mentioning he could have been a former employee of the Russian secret services.
Cyberwarfare is an instrumental part of Russia's war in Ukraine, with hackers on both sides launching attacks. The collective Anonymous and the Belarusian Cyber Partisans declared war on the Kremlin on February 24 and have conducted multiple large-scale cyberattacks against Russia.
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