Russian ransomware gang worked with Kremlin spies, UK says

A Russian criminal gang secretly conducted cyberattacks and espionage operations against NATO allies on the orders of the Kremlin’s intelligence services, according to the UK’s National Crime Agency. Evil Corp, which includes a leader who gained notoriety for driving a Lamborghini luxury sports car, launched the hacks prior to 2019, the NCA said in statement on Oct 1. The NCA’s statement came amid an internationally coordinated effort to punish Evil Corp’s alleged members with sanctions and, in the US, an indictment.

The gang has been accused of using malicious software to extort millions of dollars from hundreds of banks and financial institutions in more than 40 countries. In December 2019, the US government sanctioned Evil Corp. and accused its alleged leader, Maksim Yakubets, of providing "direct assistance” to the Russian state, including by "acquiring confidential documents.

” The NCA’s statement on Tuesday provides new detail on the work Yakubets and other members allegedly carried out to aid the Kremlin’s geopolitical aims. The exact nature of the hacks against the North Atlantic Treaty Organization allies wasn’t immediately clear. The gang cultivated close ties with officials from Russia’s main intelligence agencies, the Federal Security Service (FSB), Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) and a military intelligence agency of the General Staff of the Armed Forces, known as the GRU, according to the NCA.

That effort, the NCA alleged, was partly aided .