US indicts Russians in hacking of nuclear company Westinghouse and anti-chemical weapons agency
Charges came hours after Dutch authorities said they had also disrupted an attempt by Russian intelligence agents to hack into an organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons
The United States on Thursday charged seven Russian intelligence officers with conspiring to hack computers and steal data from the nuclear energy company Westinghouse Electric Co as well as anti-doping watchdogs, sporting federations and an international agency probing the use of chemical weapons.
The charges of conspiracy to commit computer fraud and abuse and to commit wire fraud and money laundering came hours after Dutch authorities said they had disrupted an attempt by Russian intelligence agents to hack into The Hague-based organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons in April.
That organisation is tasked with probing the use of chemical weapons in Syria and the March 2018 poisoning of a former Russian military intelligence officer in the United Kingdom.
The Justice Department said one of the Russian officers researched Westinghouse and its employees online and stole login credentials of Westinghouse workers for servers in the United States, including staff that work at its advanced nuclear reactor development and new reactor technology units.
Westinghouse, which is located outside Pittsburgh, provides fuel, services and nuclear power plant design to customers, including Ukraine.
