{ "id": "1aefd17d-4810-4f3e-a771-3e30c6fbe949", "created_at": "2026-04-06T00:12:02.992668Z", "updated_at": "2026-04-10T03:20:54.25061Z", "deleted_at": null, "sha1_hash": "095e7fee4fff8f5fb21ee04239b06f136b85b299", "title": "Russian National Charged for Conspiring with Russian Military Intelligence to Destroy Ukrainian Government Computer Systems and Data", "llm_title": "", "authors": "", "file_creation_date": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z", "file_modification_date": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z", "file_size": 51248, "plain_text": "Russian National Charged for Conspiring with Russian Military\r\nIntelligence to Destroy Ukrainian Government Computer Systems\r\nand Data\r\nPublished: 2024-06-26 · Archived: 2026-04-05 21:43:43 UTC\r\nNote: Concurrent with the return of the indictment, the U.S. Department of State’s Rewards for Justice program is\r\noffering a reward of up to $10 million for information on Stigal’s location or his malicious cyberactivity. Anyone\r\npossessing such information should contact Rewards for Justice here\r\n.\r\nA federal grand jury in Maryland returned an indictment yesterday charging Amin Timovich Stigal (Амин\r\nТимович Стигал), 22, a Russian citizen, with conspiracy to hack into and destroy computer systems and data. In\r\nadvance of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, targets included Ukrainian Government systems and data\r\nwith no military or defense-related roles. Later targets included computer systems in countries that were providing\r\nsupport to Ukraine, including the United States. Stigal remains at large.\r\n“As alleged, the defendant conspired with Russian military intelligence on the eve of Russia’s unjust and\r\nunprovoked invasion of Ukraine to launch cyberattacks targeting the Ukrainian government and later targeting its\r\nallies, including the United States.” said Attorney General Merrick B. Garland. “The Justice Department will\r\ncontinue to stand with Ukraine on every front in its fight against Russia’s war of aggression, including by holding\r\naccountable those who support Russia’s malicious cyber activity.”\r\n“The GRU has repeatedly applied in cyberspace Russia’s statecraft of indiscriminate destruction and\r\nintimidation,” said Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen. “The Department will do its part to prevent and\r\ndisrupt such malicious behavior that relies upon online services or infrastructure in the U.S., or that targets U.S.\r\nhttps://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/russian-national-charged-conspiring-russia-military-intelligence-destroy-ukrainian\r\nPage 1 of 3\n\nvictims. We will also identify, pursue, and eventually hold to account those responsible for Russia’s malicious\r\nactions, including the cybercriminals that the Russian government cultivates in furtherance of its malign agenda.”\r\n“Amin Timovich Stigal attempted to leverage malware to aid the Russian military in the invasion of Ukraine,”\r\nsaid FBI Deputy Director Paul Abbate. “Today’s indictment demonstrates the FBI’s unwavering commitment to\r\ncombat malicious cyber activities by our adversaries, and we will continue to work with our international partners\r\nto thwart attempts to undermine and harm our allies.”\r\n“Malicious cyber actors who attack our allies should know that we will pursue them to the full extent of the law,”\r\nsaid U.S. Attorney Erek L. Barron for the District of Maryland. “Cyber intrusion schemes such as the one alleged\r\nthreaten our national security, and we will use all the technologies and investigative measures at our disposal to\r\ndisrupt and track down these cybercriminals.”\r\n“The indictment of Amin Stigal is yet another example of the FBI’s commitment to combating cyber threats both\r\nat home and internationally,” said Special Agent in Charge William J. DelBagno of the FBI Baltimore Field\r\nOffice. “To those adversaries who seek to compromise our international partners’ systems, know you will be\r\nidentified and you will face consequences for your actions. The FBI vows to continually pursue justice and disrupt\r\nmalicious cyber actors.”\r\nAccording to court documents, in Jan. 2022, Stigal and members of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the\r\nGeneral Staff (GRU) of the Russian Federation (the Conspirators) conspired to use a U.S.-based company’s\r\nservices to distribute malware known in the cybersecurity community as “WhisperGate” to dozens of Ukrainian\r\ngovernment entities’ computer systems and destroy those systems and related data in advance of the Russian\r\ninvasion of Ukraine. The United States government previously joined with allies and partners in May 2022 to\r\nattribute this cyber-attack to the Russian military and to condemn the attack and similar destructive cyber\r\nactivities against Ukraine.\r\nOn Jan. 13, 2022, the Conspirators attacked multiple Ukrainian government networks, including the Ukrainian\r\nMinistry of International Affairs, the State Treasury, the Judiciary Administration, the State Portal for Digital\r\nServices, the Ministry of Education and Science, the Ministry of Agriculture, the State Service for Food Safety\r\nand Consumer Protection, the Ministry of Energy, the Accounting Chamber for Ukraine, the State Emergency\r\nService, the State Forestry Agency, and the Motor Insurance Bureau. The Conspirators infected computers on\r\nthese and other networks with malware called WhisperGate, which was designed to look like ransomware.\r\nHowever, as the indictment alleges, WhisperGate was actually a cyberweapon designed to completely destroy the\r\ntarget computer and related data.\r\nIn conjunction with these attacks, the Conspirators compromised several of the targeted Ukrainian computer\r\nsystems, exfiltrated sensitive data, including patient health records, and defaced the websites to read: “Ukrainians!\r\nAll information about you has become public, be afraid and expect the worst. This is for your past, present and\r\nfuture.” That same day, the Conspirators offered the hacked data for sale on the internet. The effort was aimed at\r\nsowing concern among the broader Ukrainian population regarding the safety of government systems and data.\r\nIn August 2022, the Conspirators also hacked the transportation infrastructure of a Central European country that\r\nwas supporting Ukraine. The indictment further alleges that from Aug. 5, 2021, through Feb. 3, 2022, the\r\nConspirators leveraged the same computer infrastructure they used in the Ukraine-related attacks to probe\r\nhttps://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/russian-national-charged-conspiring-russia-military-intelligence-destroy-ukrainian\r\nPage 2 of 3\n\ncomputers belonging to a federal government agency in Maryland in the same manner as they had initially probed\r\nthe Ukrainian Government networks.\r\nIf convicted, Stigal faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison. A federal district court judge will determine\r\nany sentence after taking into account the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.\r\nThe FBI’s Baltimore Field Office is investigating the case with the support of the FBI’s Milwaukee and Boston\r\nField Offices.\r\nAssistant U.S. Attorneys Aaron S.J. Zelinsky and Robert I. Goldaris for the District of Maryland are prosecuting\r\nthe case, with valuable assistance from the National Security Division’s National Security Cyber Section.\r\nAn indictment is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a\r\nreasonable doubt in a court of law.\r\nIndictment\r\nSource: https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/russian-national-charged-conspiring-russia-military-intelligence-destroy-ukrainian\r\nhttps://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/russian-national-charged-conspiring-russia-military-intelligence-destroy-ukrainian\r\nPage 3 of 3", "extraction_quality": 1, "language": "EN", "sources": [ "ETDA", "Malpedia" ], "references": [ "https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/russian-national-charged-conspiring-russia-military-intelligence-destroy-ukrainian" ], "report_names": [ "russian-national-charged-conspiring-russia-military-intelligence-destroy-ukrainian" ], "threat_actors": [], "ts_created_at": 1775434322, "ts_updated_at": 1775791254, "ts_creation_date": 0, "ts_modification_date": 0, "files": { "pdf": "https://archive.orkl.eu/095e7fee4fff8f5fb21ee04239b06f136b85b299.pdf", "text": "https://archive.orkl.eu/095e7fee4fff8f5fb21ee04239b06f136b85b299.txt", "img": "https://archive.orkl.eu/095e7fee4fff8f5fb21ee04239b06f136b85b299.jpg" } }