by using Vitnija Saldava and Vladimir Isachenkov. updated February 10, 2017.
For a number of years, a group of Russian hackers were posting letters and files stolen from senior Russian officials with impunity. after which the nation's undercover agent company tracked them down and offered them a deal.A member of the Shaltai Boltai (Humpty Dumpty) neighborhood told The associated Press on Thursday that the hackers permitted the present from the Federal safety service, or FSB, the right KGB successor company: display their spoils earlier than publishing in trade for protection.
but come what may the issues went wrong for the group, and its leader and two different guys have ended up at the back of bars.
Alexander Glazastikov, who spoke to the AP from Tallinn, Estonia, the place he's in the hunt for political asylum, talked about his community had no connection to the hacking of Democratic birthday party emails all through the 2016 U.S. election campaign. Former President Barack Obama's administration had accused Russia of launching the hacking crusade to assist Republican Donald Trump win, accusations that the Kremlin has denied.
"We didn't have any interest in Western international locations, the U.S.. nobody apart from inside Russia," Glazastikov stated.
He didn't say if the FSB officers who approached the group had been those arrested in December on prices of spying for the united states. The arrests reported by way of Russian media outlets fueled speculation that the officers could have been related to hacking the Democrats.
whereas the interview Thursday offered no new tips about Russian meddling in the U.S. elections, it provided a infrequent glimpse into the shadowy world of Russian politics, the place hackers function a weapon for competing Kremlin clans and rival undercover agent corporations.
Glazastikov said the hacking neighborhood's leader, Vladimir Anikeyev, had offered to install Shaltai Boltai as a aid that would unlock information serving public pastimes. Glazastikov said he joined the group as a result of he turned into tired of his advertising job.
The neighborhood directly received the limelight via publishing letters written by using government officials, artists or Kremlin-connected tycoons that cast them as unscrupulous and cynical. after which Shaltai Boltai all started to cash in on its reputation by using blackmailing its victims to make them pay to keep away from the e-book of their personal information.
Glazastikov observed he believed the community crossed a red line for Russian officers in 2015, when it posted letters and documents from the manager of the defense Ministry's building branch and then followed up with an open letter to the top of armed forces counterintelligence mocking the company's lack of ability to retain secrets and techniques.
"We were fiddling with fire: The counterintelligence acquired very drawn to us after that letter," Glazastikov pointed out in an interview broadcast Thursday with the Russian Dozhd television station.
He said unidentified people, maybe from the protection Ministry, bought the cache of files stolen from the militia construction department chief for about $a hundred,000.
one at a time, the FSB, competing for impact with different secret agent organizations, obtained the hacking neighborhood in its crosshairs.
Glazastikov noted that Dozhd Anikeyev, the hacking community's chief, had instructed him the FSB contacted him by way of proxies to give a message: "Guys, we recognize all about you. We won't arrest you, however we would want to comprehend what you are doing."
Neither the protection Ministry nor the FSB has had any instant remark about Glazastikov's claims.
Glazastikov said Anikeyev become retaining links to hackers who stole very own statistics and also coping with the victims and those that ordered the hackings. Glazastikov estimated the neighborhood earned up to $2 million due to the fact 2014, however a large share of the cash become spent to cowl "operational charges." He stated he himself made below $a hundred,000.
Glazastikov referred to Anikeyev did not identify the FSB officers he turned into coping with, and added that he doesn't be aware of if they were the officers of the FSB's cybercrime division arrested on treason prices in December. Two of them have been named in Russian media as Col. Sergei Mikhailov, deputy head of the FSB's suggestions safety center (TsIB), and his subordinate, Maj. Dmitry Dokuchayev.
based on Russian media studies, Mikhailov turned into arrested in a method designed to sow worry in the ranks: He had a bag placed over his head whereas attending a gathering of senior FSB officers.
Glazastikov referred to Anikeyev had asked him to return to Russia, however he refused as a result of he had a feeling that Anikeyev had been arrested and become making the request on officers' orders. one more hacking neighborhood member, Konstantin Teplyakov, agreed to come and became arrested.
Anikeyev's arrest was later formally announced.
Glazastikov mentioned he failed to know an extra alleged community member, Alexander Filinov, who additionally was arrested. Filinov showed up Thursday at a Moscow court docket, which extended his arrest except April.
