US charges Russian intelligence officers in major cyberattacks

The Justice Department on Monday unsealed charges accusing six Russian military intelligence officers of an aggressive worldwide hacking campaign that caused mass disruption and cost billions of dollars by attacking targets like a French presidential election, the electricity grid in Ukraine and the opening ceremony of the 2018 Winter Olympics.

Prosecutors said the suspects were from the same unit that helped distribute stolen Democratic emails in the 2016 election. Though Justice Department officials played down the timing of the announcement two weeks before the presidential election, it nevertheless served as U.S. officials’ latest censure of Russia’s hostile intrusions into other countries’ affairs, even as President Donald Trump has adopted a more accommodating stance toward Moscow.