The U.S. Takedown Of Russian And Chinese Hackers

By Paul Davis
The U.S. intelligence community often warns Americans about foreign computer system hackers. Some of the hackers are criminals, corrupting computer systems for fun and profit, and some are state-sponsored hackers looking to undermine American institutions.
Russia and China are the usual suspects when state-sponsored computer intrusions are noted. Thankfully, the U.S. had some success in thwarting them.   
Back in April, the National Security Agency (NSA) and other federal agencies co-sealed an FBI public service announcement, “Russian GRU Exploiting Vulnerable Routers to Steal Sensitive Information.”
The  public service announcement accompanied an announcement from U. S. Attorney David Metcalf in Philadelphia, the Department of Justice, and the FBI that a court-authorized technical operation to neutralize the U.S. portion of a network of small office/home office (SOHO) routers compromised by a unit within Russia’s Main Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff (GRU: Glavnoye Razvedyvatelnoe Upravlenis) Military Unit 26165, also known as APT28, Sofacy Group, Forest Blizzard, Pawn Storm, Fancy Bear, and Sednit.
The GRU is the Russian military intelligence agency that operates worldwide alongside the Russian foreign intelligence agency the SVR, which is essentially the old First Main Directorate of the old KGB.
The GRU, the military group that includes the Spetsnaz special operations forces and the “wet work” unit that murdered a R...