The FBI has disrupted a long-running malware operation that allowed Russian spies to steal sensitive information from various countries. Among the targets are NASA-member governments, prominent journalists and those deemed to be of interest to the Russian government. The court-authorized operation named MEDUSA has disrupted a global peer-to-peer network of computers compromised by a sophisticated malware known as “Snake”. The United States Department of Justice describes it as the “premier cyber espionage malware” of the Federal Security Service of Russia (FSB). The malware was knocked offline at the start of this week.
The hacking group, known as Turla, spent nearly two decades using different versions of the Snake malware to steal sensitive documents from hundreds of computer systems in at least 50 countries.
The DoJ explains that the Snake malware recorded keystrokes, enabling hackers to steal their target’s account authentication credentials such as usernames and passwords. The victims are warned that stolen credentials could still be used to fraudulently re-access compromised computers and other accounts.
The FBI was able to decrypt and decode Snake communication through the analysis of the Snake malware and its network. “With information gleaned from monitoring the Snake network and analyzing Snake malware, the FBI developed a tool named PERSEUS which establishes communication sessions with the Snake malware implant on a particular computer, and issues commands that cause the Snake implant to disable itself without affecting the host computer or legitimate applications on the computer,” the DoJ explained in a release.
Although Russia officially denies carrying out cyberespionage operations, the FBI and its partners are in little doubt about the importance of this breakthrough.
Attorney General Merrick B. Garland commented on the FBI’s work and said, “We will continue to strengthen our collective defenses against the Russian regime’s destabilizing efforts to undermine the security of the United States and our allies.”
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