Russian hackers accused of targeting Tokyo Olympics as FBI issues arrest warrants
Britain has accused Russian hackers of targeting this year's Tokyo Olympic Games, with the aim of causing disruption.
The UK Foreign Office said Russia's military intelligence service the GRU carried out "cyber reconnaissance" against Olympic officials and organisations, reports the BBC.
The alleged attacks took place before the Tokyo Games were postponed until next year because of the coronavirus pandemic.
READ MORE: Sleeper cyber weapons deployed against Australia, expert warns
The Olympic and Paralympic Games in Tokyo have been postponed until next year. AP/AAP
Officials did not specify the nature or extent of the cyber-attacks in detail.
The claim came as six Russian military officers were charged by the US Justice Department for hacking into software using destructive malware to black out thousands of computers and cause nearly US$1 billion (A$1.4 billion) in losses.
US officials said the actions were intended to support Russian government efforts to undermine, retaliate against, or otherwise destabilise worldwide computer networks.
The alleged hackers are officers of the GRU, a military intelligence agency of the General Staff of the Armed Forces, the Justice Department said.
Prosecutors said they attacked Ukraine; the country of Georgia; elections in France; efforts to hold Russia accountable for its use of a weapons-grade nerve agent, Novichok, on foreign soil; and the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympic Games after Russian athletes were banned from participating under their nation's flag, as a consequence of Russian government-sponsored doping effort.
The six Russian military officers charged by the FBI. AP
The United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania issued a federal arrest warrant for each of these defendants upon the grand jury's return of the indictment.
Yuriy Sergeyevich Andrienko, 32; Sergey Vladimirovich Detistov, 35; Pavel Valeryevich Frolov, 28; Anatoliy Sergeyevich Kovalev, 29; Artem Valeryevich Ochichenko, 27; and Petr Nikolayevich Pliskin, 32, face a maximum sentence of 27 years in prison for wire fraud.
They are wanted and assumed to be in Russia.
US Prosecutors said Kovalev allegedly developed "spearphishing techniques and messages" to target: En Marche! officials; employees of the DSTL; members of the IOC and Olympic athletes; and employees of a Georgian media entity."
- Reported with CNN
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