TYB
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FBI
@FBI
At a press conference this morning, #FBI Director Christopher Wray announced new and recent enforcement actions to disrupt and prosecute criminal Russian activity. Read his full remarks, as delivered, at https://go.usa.gov/xu32c.
1:17 PM · Apr 6, 2022
https://twitter.com/FBI/status/1511755033666273283
Well well well, look who is tweeting at :17.
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Director Christopher Wray Announces Actions to Disrupt and Prosecute Russian Criminal Activity
FBI Director Christopher Wray delivered the following remarks during a press conference at the Department of Justice in Washington, D.C., with partner agency officials announcing actions to prosecute criminal Russian activity. (Remarks as delivered.)
Thank you, Lisa. I’m pleased to be here today to help announce this series of actions countering threats originating from Russia.
I want to focus for a few minutes on the FBI’s role in one of the actions the Attorney General mentioned, and what it says about the FBI’s unique cyber capabilities and what we can accomplish together with the private sector.
Today, we’re announcing a sophisticated, court-authorized operation disrupting a botnet of thousands of devices controlled by the Russian government—before it could do any harm.
We removed malware from devices used by thousands of mostly small businesses for network security all over the world. And then we shut the door the Russians had used to get into them.
Yesterday’s Darknet takedown struck a blow against Russian criminals and the ecosystem of cryptocurrency tumblers, money launders, malware purveyors, and other supporting them. The botnet disruption we’re announcing today strikes a blow against Russian intelligence, the Russian government.
The bot network we disrupted was built by the GRU—the Russian government’s military intelligence agency. And in particular it was the unit within GRU known to security researchers as Sandworm Team.
This GRU team, Sandworm, had implanted a specific type of malware known as Cyclops Blink on thousands of WatchGuard Technologies’ Firebox devices—these are security appliances, mainly firewalls, that are typically deployed in home office environments and in small to mid-size businesses.
FULL:
https://www.fbi.gov/news/pressrel/press-releases/director-christopher-wray-announces-actions-to-disrupt-and-prosecute-russian-criminal-activity-040622