The U.S. Treasury Department imposed new sanctions on three individuals and five companies from Russia claiming that these entities have conducted potential cyber attacks against the United States and its allies. The claims also suggest that these individuals and companies received enormous support from Moscow's military and intelligence services in continuing their suspicious activities.
While briefing about these sanctions to Reuters, Treasury secretary Steve Mnuchin said "The United States is engaged in an ongoing effort to counter malicious actors working at the behest of the Russian Federation and its military and intelligence units to increase Russia's offensive cyber capabilities,"
"The entities designated today have directly contributed to improving Russia's cyber and underwater capabilities through their work with the FSB and therefore jeopardize the safety and security of the United States and our allies," he further added.
The companies listed in this sanction are Digital Security, ERPScan, Embedi, Kvant Scientific Research Institute, and Divetechnoservices. Besides the firms, the individuals who were identified to be involved in the suspicious cyber attacks under this sanctions were all parts of Divetechnoservices, which is a service provider in terms of underwater works and diving equipment, as per its official website. The accused individuals are Aleksandr Lvovich Tribun, Oleg Sergeyevich; and Chirikov and Vladimir Yakovlevich Kaganskiy who hold the posts of general director, program manager and the company's owner respectively.
Independent quoted that American citizens are prohibited to do any sort of business and transactions with all the above-mentioned entities and individuals, under this sanction. The Treasury Department has also placed a block over all the facilities, properties of these individuals and companies whichever are the subject to the U.S. law and administration.
The Treasury Department also added that Russia's "malign and destabili[se] cyber activities" included the NotPetya attack that spread across Europe, Asia, and the United States, last year. The alleged malware commanded potential harms in its attempt to disrupt the nation's financial flow. The newest cyber attack from Russia include threats over the U.S. energy grid, internet routers, and switches. The Treasury also targeted the sanction on Russian government's underwater capabilities as it added: "Russia has been active in tracking undersea communication cables, which carry the bulk of the world's telecommunications data."
As per potential sources, Moscow initially refused to deliver any comment on the sanctions. The capital city of Russia later denied all the claims of cyber attacks and also declared that it hasn't attempted to trespass into any country's security and infrastructure system.
