{"id":4539,"date":"2026-04-07T23:44:07","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T23:44:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/russia\/4539\/"},"modified":"2026-04-07T23:44:07","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T23:44:07","slug":"us-disrupts-russian-military-run-dns-hijacking-network-justice-department-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/russia\/4539\/","title":{"rendered":"US Disrupts Russian Military-Run DNS Hijacking Network, Justice Department Says"},"content":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON, April 7 (Reuters) – The U.S. Justice Department said on \u2060Tuesday \u2060it carried out a court-authorized \u2060disruption of a DNS hijacking network controlled by a Russian military intelligence \u200bunit.<\/p>\n

The network was operated by Russia’s Main Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff (GRU) Military Unit 26165, the \u200cdepartment said in a statement.<\/p>\n

It added \u200cthe GRU used routers to facilitate hijacking operations against worldwide targets, including individuals in military, \u2060government and \u2060critical infrastructure sectors.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The efforts targeted thousands of routers worldwide and enabled the \u200bRussian hackers to filter traffic to identify specific targets, according to the Justice Department.<\/p>\n

Once targets were identified, targets’ unencrypted network traffic was captured, providing the hackers with passwords, authentication tokens, emails and other sensitive information, it \u200badded.<\/p>\n

“GRU actors compromised routers in the U.S. and around the world, hijacking them to conduct \u2060espionage. \u2060Given the scale of this \u2060threat, sounding \u200bthe alarm wasn’t enough,” said Brett Leatherman, the assistant director of the FBI\u2019s Cyber Division.<\/p>\n

The FBI \u200bidentified compromised routers in \u2060the U.S., collected evidence of Russian targeting, cut off GRU access, and reset them to normal functionality, the Justice Department said in its statement.<\/p>\n

In a post on social media platform X, Leatherman said the takedown effort, dubbed “Operation Masquerade,” included partners in 15 countries.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Without action, “the GRU would have continued intercepting \u2060encrypted traffic and stealing sensitive information,” he said, adding, “Russia’s cyber program is an enduring \u2060threat.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

Officials in Germany and Britain also issued advisories about the hacking campaign on Tuesday.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Russian Embassy in Washington did not respond to requests for comment.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The operation is the latest example of intelligence collection carried out by the Russian military intelligence hacking unit, Microsoft said in a blog post released ahead of the Justice Department’s statement. Microsoft identified more than 200\u00a0organizations and 5,000 consumer devices impacted by the hacking operation, the company said.<\/p>\n

Lumen Technologies’ Black Lotus Labs, which identified part of the botnet infrastructure last year, said \u2060in a blog post that the operations primarily targeted government agencies, including ministries of foreign affairs, law enforcement and third-party email providers.<\/p>\n

The researchers did not identify specific targets, but said their analysis revealed targets in the U.S., Europe, Afghanistan, North Africa, Central America \u200band Southeast Asia.<\/p>\n

(Reporting by Jasper Ward in Washington and AJ Vicens in \u200bDetroit; Editing by Daphne Psaledakis and Jamie Freed)<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 Thomson Reuters.<\/p>\n

Photos You Should See \u2013 April 2026<\/p>\n

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