Russian Government-sponsored hackers are compromising the key hardware of government and business computer networks like routers and firewalls, giving them virtual control of data flows, Britain and the United States warned on Monday.
The operation was “to support espionage, extract intellectual property, maintain persistent access to victim networks and potentially lay a foundation for future offensive operations,” Washington and london said in a joint statement. “Whoever controls the routing infrastructure of a network essentially controls the data flowing through the network.”
US Department of Homeland Security said the hacking was part of broad operation dubbed Grizzly Steppe, which DHS says comprises concerting cyberattacks by Moscow’s civilian and military Intelligence agencies. The router hacking operation has targeted both government and private sector groups, and key providers of network infrastructure and internet services serving them.