FBI Offers $10 Million Reward for Capture of Russian Hacker

The FBI have placed a multi-million dollar bounty on the head of a Russian hacker who allegedly targeted the Ukrainian government's cyber infrastructure in the lead up to the 2022 invasion.

Amin Timovich Stigal is a 22-year old hacker from Grozny in the Chechen Republic.

Between August 2021 and February 2022, Stigal is alleged to have committed "computer intrusions targeting critical Ukrainian critical infrastructure."

In a statement responding to the attack, Attorney General Merrick Garland said: "As alleged, the defendant conspired with Russian military intelligence on the eve of Russia's unjust and unprovoked invasion of Ukraine to launch cyberattacks targeting the Ukrainian government and later targeting its allies, including the United States."

According to court documents, Stigal alongside Russia's military intelligence service, used an unnamed U.S.-based company's services to attack "multiple Ukrainian government networks," including the country's Ministry of International Affairs, treasury department, and Ministry of Energy.

The conspirators infected computers on these networks using a malware known in the cybersecurity community as WhisperGate, which the DOJ called "a cyberweapon designed to completely destroy the target computer and related data."

Stigal and his associates within the Russian government also employed the same malware to infiltrate the computers of a "federal government agency in Maryland" and, in August 2022, hacked the transportation infrastructure of an unnamed "Central European country that was supporting Ukraine."

On June 25, Stigal was indicted by a Maryland jury for conspiring to "hack and destroy" computer systems and data in Ukraine and the U.S.

While Stigal is still at large, his arrest and conviction would see him face a maximum penalty of five years in prison.

His connection to the attack has also earned Stigal a spot on the FBI's Most Wanted list, and the intelligence agency is now offering a $10 million reward for information leading to his capture.

Newsweek spoke to Madeline Carr, a professor of global politics and cybersecurity at University College London, about Stigal's cyber assault.

According to Carr, the "destructive" nature of the attack – without a more "sophisticated ransomware motive" – leads her to believe that the attack was ideological in nature.

In line with Carr's suggestion, Stigal also defaced the compromised government websites to read: "Ukrainians! All information about you has become public, be afraid and expect the worst. This is for your past, present and future."

Carr also commented on the Russia's questionable use of Stigal, an individual unaffiliated with the government who at the time was still a teenager, to help conduct cyberattacks.

She said that the use of such cyber "subcontractors" is, in fact, a rather common practice by states.

"Most states use some form of subcontractors...for intelligence and military operations," Carr said. "Highly skilled cyber security personal are very expensive and not often drawn to public sector workplaces so outsourcing is quite normal."

Carr gave the example of Edward Snowden, who worked as an intelligence contractor for the National Security Agency when he leaked classified documents revealing the agency's global surveillance programs.

Linda Zecher, the CEO of the Cyber Security company IronNet, told National Security News that the attack by Stigal was a "classic and highly effective" form of a cyber attack from a hostile state. She added that Russia was "effectively sub-contracting out cyber warfare."

In June, a research paper from a Swiss University outlined the ways in which China has employed its data-savvy youth to reinforce state-run cyber campaigns.

Using software vulnerabilities unearthed during government-run "hacking contests," assimilating former professional hackers into Beijing's cybersecurity arsenal, and collaborating with the top talent from the nation's universities, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has created a public-private hacking "ecosystem" which strengthens its attacks against Western states and corporations.

Cyber espionage has also emerged as a significant front in the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.

In January, then-head of Ukraine's Security Services cyber chief Illia Vitiuk said Russian hackers had infiltrated the system of telecommunications company Kyivstar, one of the country's main network operators.

Vitiuk said that the attack destroyed "almost everything," including thousands of PCs and servers at Kyivstar, and that it should be taken as a warning by the West.

"This attack is a big message, a big warning, not only to Ukraine, but for the whole Western world to understand that no one is actually untouchable," Vitiuk told Reuters.

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