WASHINGTON, April 15. /TASS/. The US White House blamed Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) for a cyberattack in the United States through the SolarWinds software.
"The United States is formally naming the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) … as the perpetrator of the broad-scope cyber espionage campaign that exploited the SolarWinds Orion platform and other information technology infrastructures," the US White House said in materials posted on its website on Thursday.
The documents were disseminated in the wake of the US administration’s decision to toughen unilateral sanctions on Russia.
As the White House claimed, the US intelligence community "has high confidence in its assessment of the SVR’s responsibility for this activity. The SVR staff acted under the disguise of the hacker groups APT 29, Cozy Bear and The Dukes, it said further, without providing any proof in the documents.
As was reported earlier, the SolarWinds Orion platform was hacked in March this year. The hackers introduced malware into the Orion software update that was subsequently downloaded and used by thousands of SolarWinds clients, including leading government agencies as well as 400 major US companies.
Russia has numerously officially rejected Washington’s claims of Moscow’s complicity in the recent cyberattack in the United States through the SolarWinds platform.
Package of sanctions
US President Joe Biden signed an executive order on Thursday to impose new sanctions against Russia. In particular, Washington banned US companies to directly buy bonds issued by Russia’s Central Bank, National Wealth Fund or Finance Ministry.
A total of 16 entities and 16 individuals were slapped with the sanctions over Moscow’s alleged interference in the US elections while eight citizens and companies were sanctioned for their work in Crimea. The United States will also expel 10 personnel from the Russian diplomatic mission in Washington D.C. whom the Biden administration considers as "representatives of Russian intelligence services."
Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said Moscow will respond in kind to the new US sanctions. The new US restrictions will not contribute to a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart Joe Biden proposed by Washington, he added.