U.S. announces charges against Russians in global hacking campaigns

The Justice Department revealed Thursday that four Russian nationals working for the Russian government have been previously indicted for two separate incidents of attempted hacking into energy facilities in the U.S. and abroad between 2012 and 2018, targeting hundreds of companies and organizations in some 135 countries.

Justice Department officials said in a press release that one of the campaigns, if successful, would have given Russia the ability to disrupt energy sector computer systems "at a future time of its choosing," resulting in "potentially catastrophic" damage to critical infrastructure.

A Justice Department official told reporters that these charges were unsealed because "they do a good job of highlighting the kind of thing that we are concerned about in the current environment."