FBI takes down Russia's sophisticated 20-year-old malware network known as "Snake"

Washington — The FBI disrupted a 20-year-old sophisticated malware network used by the Russian government to collect sensitive information from hundreds of infected computers across 50 countries, the Justice Department announced Tuesday. 

Dubbed "Operation Medusa," the FBI says its court-authorized neutralization of the Kremlin-backed hackers in the U.S. succeeded, thanks to a digital tool called "Perseus" that turned the malware's functionality against itself and forced the program to self-destruct on infected computers. 

Officials say the malicious software known as "Snake" served as a covert avenue by which Russia's intelligence forces stole and transmitted information from a targeted victim base that included NATO member governments, journalists and financial and technology sectors. Investigators allege the Snake malware had been used since 2004 by an arm of the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation (FSB) known as Turla to stealthily exfiltrate documents of interest to the Russian government and avoid detection.