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Russian President Vladimir Putin.Alexei Nikolsky / Pool Photo via AP
- Russian agents have hacked the FBI's communication systems as of 2010 as part of a larger effort to monitor and paralyze the surveillance by the office of Russian spies in the United States, Yahoo News reported.
- This move allowed the Russians to avoid being monitored and to communicate with human sources. It also allowed them to gather information about their pursuers. And this would have raised concerns among officials about the existence of a Russian asset within the US intelligence community.
- Yahoo News reported that Russia's hacking of the FBI's communication systems was one of the main reasons why the government of former President Barack Obama chased 35 Russian diplomats and closed two Russian diplomatic facilities in Russia. December 2016.
- Russia and the United States have intensified their counterintelligence and cybersecurity operations in recent years, and tensions between the two countries continue to intensify.
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The Russian government has hacked the FBI's communications system to prevent the bureau from tracking Russian spies working in the United States, Yahoo News reported in a bomb investigation released on Monday.
The United States has for the first time realized "the gravity" of Russia's ability to violate certain types of secure communications and surveillance devices used by the FBI's surveillance teams in 2012, the report said. . In addition to fearing that the Russians may have had access to US intelligence channels, officials also believed that Russian spies could locate FBI infiltration surveillance teams and the substance of the FBI's communications.
This would have not only allowed the Russians to avoid being monitored and to communicate with human sources, but also to collect information about their pursuers, reported Yahoo. It also raised concerns among officials that a Russian asset was hiding in the US intelligence community.
The Russians first violated the FBI 's communication systems in 2010, following the arrest and revelation of a group of Russian spies in the United States. That year, the FBI began investigating Russia's efforts to recruit US assets. One of his main goals was Carter Page, who later served as foreign policy advisor to President Donald Trump's campaign.
Read more: The Acting Director of National Intelligence Services Retains A Mysterious Launcher Calling "Urgent Concern" May Invoke Trump
The FBI informed Page in 2013 that the Russians were trying to cultivate it, but Page ignored their warnings and even publicly boasted of its relations with senior Russian government officials.
The Russians have also reportedly violated the emergency communication channels used by the FBI. A former senior counterintelligence official told Yahoo News that the United States had taken "extremely seriously."
The investigation revealed that the hacking of the FBI's communication systems by Russia was one of the main reasons why the government of former President Barack Obama had chased 35 Russian diplomats and closed two facilities Russian diplomats in December 2016.
Obama announced that measures were being taken in retaliation for Russia's interference in the 2016 election, but Yahoo News reported that the United States also wanted to close these two complexes because they were essential to Russia's efforts to intercept FBI communications.
Read more: Putin has just asked Interpol to find a Russian spy in the United States, several days after the media revealed him where he was.
Russia and the United States have stepped up their counterintelligence and cybersecurity operations in recent years as tensions between the two countries continue to intensify.
In particular, the United States recently targeted the Russian power grid and placed potentially crippling malware in the Russian system, the New York Times reported in June. Cyber attacks have long been at the heart of power grids, but the US operation is the most aggressive to date. It is intended to serve as a warning to Russia and to position the United States to conduct new cyberattacks in case of conflict with Moscow. .
According to the Times, two senior administration officials said that there was "a great deal of hesitation" to give Trump detailed explanations of the operation, in part because of concerns about its reaction, its closure or a discussion with foreign officials.
Fears came after Trump in 2017 revealed classified information to two Russian officials at a meeting of the Oval Office. This information contributed to the US's decision to extract a major CIA asset in Russia soon after, reported CNN last week.
Other US media eventually published key asset identification information, and state-sponsored Russian media subsequently declared that the intelligence service had received a name. Shortly after, the Russian government asked Interpol for further information about the spy.
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