U.S. busts Russian cyberespionage operation

The Justice Department on Tuesday said it disrupted a two-decade-long cyberespionage operation Russia used against the United States and dozens of other countries. A DOJ spokesperson said Russia’s Federal Security Service, or FSB, had used so-called “snake” malware to affect computer networks in at least 50 countries. Hackers operating out of a known FSB facility in Ryazan, Russia, stole documents from other countries and routed them through computers in the U.S. and other countries to cover their tracks.

How did U.S. authorities counter this operation? The Justice Department said it obtained a warrant from a federal judge in New York before it deployed a high-tech tool called “Perseus,” which effectively caused the “snake” virus to self-destruct.

Dig deeper: Read Carolina Lumetta’s report in The Stew about how a recent Pentagon leak has revealed problems with oversharing classified information.