A Ukrainian woman is facing federal charges in Los Angeles alleging she took part in Russian state-sponsored computer breaches on U.S. companies, including a cyberattack on a Vernon meat processor that purportedly caused the spoilage of more than 2,000 pounds of meat and triggered an ammonia leak, according to court papers unsealed Tuesday.<\/p>\n
Victoria Eduardovna Dubranova, 33 \u2014 also known as \u201cVika,\u201d \u201cTory\u201d and \u201cSovaSonya\u201d \u2014 was extradited to the United States earlier this year to face charges including tampering with public water systems, damaging protected computers, aggravated identity theft and conspiracy, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.<\/p>\n
In one of two indictments unsealed Tuesday in Los Angeles federal court, prosecutors allege Dubranova and unnamed co-conspirators tampered with water system pumps and industrial equipment, causing damage to utilities and organizations providing drinking water in the U.S. The companies were not named in court papers.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe defendant\u2019s illegal actions to tamper with the nation\u2019s public water systems put communities and the nation\u2019s drinking water resources at risk,\u201d Craig Pritzlaff, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency\u2019s acting assistant administrator, said in a statement.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese criminal charges serve as an unequivocal warning to malicious cyber actors in the U.S. and abroad: EPA\u2019s Criminal Investigation Division and our law enforcement partners will not tolerate threats to our nation\u2019s water infrastructure and will pursue justice against those who endanger the American public. EPA is unwavering in its commitment to clean, safe water for all Americans.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dubranova is also charged in connection with a computer attack on an unidentified meat packing and processing company in Vernon last year in which conspirators shut off refrigeration, spoiling more than 2,000 pounds of meat, and triggering an ammonia leak, the DOJ said.<\/p>\n
The facility had to be evacuated for more than four hours, resulting in at least $5,000 in damages, officials said.<\/p>\n
\u201cToday\u2019s actions demonstrate the department\u2019s commitment to disrupting malicious Russian cyber activity \u2014 whether conducted directly by state actors or their criminal proxies \u2014 aimed at furthering Russia\u2019s geopolitical interests,\u201d Assistant Attorney General for National Security John A. Eisenberg said in a statement. \u201cWe remain steadfast in defending essential services, including food and water systems Americans rely on each day, and holding accountable those who seek to undermine them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dubranova pleaded not guilty Tuesday in downtown Los Angeles to charges in a second indictment charging her with conspiracy linked to a separate series of cyberattacks.<\/p>\n
Dubranova\u2019s allegedly acted in support of two Russian state-sponsored cyber-criminal hacking groups \u2014 CyberArmyofRussia_Reborn and NoName, both \u201chacktivist\u201d organizations suspected of conducting cyberattacks, including distributed denial-of-service attacks, and intrusions against critical infrastructure around the world.<\/p>\n
The Russia-funded groups operate in support of Russia\u2019s geopolitical interests, according to the DOJ.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Ukrainian woman is facing federal charges in Los Angeles alleging she took part in Russian state-sponsored computer…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":28494,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[10753,49301,49302,48,52,51,47,50,49,974,27469,4190,49303],"class_list":{"0":"post-88473","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles","8":"tag-charged","9":"tag-computer","10":"tag-hacking","11":"tag-la","12":"tag-la-headlines","13":"tag-la-news","14":"tag-los-angeles","15":"tag-los-angeles-headlines","16":"tag-los-angeles-news","17":"tag-national","18":"tag-russia","19":"tag-support","20":"tag-ukranian"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88473","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=88473"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88473\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28494"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88473"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=88473"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=88473"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}