FBI says it has disabled hacking tool created by Russia’s elite spies
- Experts disabled the ‘Snake’ malware used by the FSB against US computers, in what could be a death blow to one of Moscow’s leading cyber espionage programs
- The spies behind the software are part of a notorious hacking group known as ‘Turla’
The FBI has sabotaged a suite of malicious software used by elite Russian spies, US authorities said on Tuesday, providing a glimpse of the digital tug of war between two cyber superpowers.
Senior law enforcement officials said FBI technical experts had identified and disabled malware wielded by Russia’s FSB security service against an undisclosed number of American computers, a move they hoped would deal a death blow to one of Russia’s leading cyber spying programs.
“We assess this as being their premier espionage tool,” one of the US officials told journalists ahead of the release. He said Washington hoped the operation would “eradicate it from the virtual battlefield”.
The official said the FSB spies behind the malware, known as Snake, are part of a notorious hacking group tracked by the private sector and known as “Turla”.
The group has been active for two decades against a variety of Nato-aligned targets, US government agencies and technology companies, a senior FBI official said.