CONNECTING THE DOTS

Cyber Experts: Link Between Aggression Against Ukraine, DNC Hacks

Similar to the tech used against Ukraine’s military.

Technology purportedly used to hack the Democratic National Committee bears a striking resemblance to software used against the Ukrainian military, a top cybersecurity group says. A new report from the firm CrowdStrike said the malware responsible for the DNC breach is a “variant” of the one that has been used to locate the position of Ukrainian artillery units in the wake of Russia’s invasion of the Crimean Peninsula two years ago. The findings bolster evidence that the hackers who attacked the DNC had a connection to the Russian government. CrowdStrike has said that software was developed by a hacker known as Fancy Bear. “This establishes a clear link between Fancy Bear and the Russian military,” said the co-founder of CrowdStrike, Dmitri Alperovitch. U.S. intelligence agencies, including the FBI and the CIA, have said the hacks on the Democratic Party were likely directed by senior Russian government officials. Russia has repeatedly denied involvement in the hacks.