“The US military blocked Internet access to an infamous Russian entity seeking to sow discord among Americans during the 2018 midterms,” The Washington Post wrote today.
The strike targeted the Internet Research Agency in St. Petersburg, a company controlled by Kremlin-connected catering tycoon Evgeny Prigozhin. It was “part of the first offensive cyber campaign against Russia designed to thwart attempts to interfere with a US election,” according to “several US officials” interviewed by the US newspaper.
The operation was meant to warn the Kremlin that its operations against the USA “are not cost-free.”
Reacting to the publication, the Federal News Agency (FAN) — a media outlet that is said to have ties to Prigozhin — confirmed that its servers had been targeted in a cyberattack on November 5, 2018.
The agency asserts “categorically” that the strike was “led by the US military.” An infected iPhone, which a FAN employee unknowingly connected to his computer, was used for the attack, as well as Amazon servers:
It is worth noting that the intrusion into the local network was carried out from IP addresses controlled by American companies, including Amazon servers that are usually used by hackers to cover their tracks and conceal the true source of an attack. In this way, the U.S. Armed Forces Cyber Command exploited its administrative capacity and used a commercial enterprise for its own interests.
However, the strike was conducted in an almost amateur way and failed, according to FAN.
This article was updated to reflect the latest developments.
