Jailed Russian hacker Konstantin Kozlovsky claimed in a recent interview that he was directed by a Russian intelligence officer to hack the Democratic National Committee during the 2016 presidential election, McClatchy reports.
Kozlovsky, who claims to have worked for Russian Major Dmitry Dokuchayev for 7 years, told Russian independent TV station RAIN that he left a data signature with the numbers from his Russian passport and the number of his visa to visit St. Martin saved as a generic data file on the DNC servers.
"Based on my experience and understanding of professional intelligence operations, the blending of criminal activity with sanctioned intelligence operations is an old page out of the Russian intelligence-services playbook," Leo Taddeo, head of information security for Cyxtera Technologies, and also the former chief of cyber operations in the FBI's New York office, told McClatchy.
"What the defendant (in Russia) is describing would not be inconsistent with past Russian intelligence operations."
Dokuchayev, also known by his alias "Forb," was an infamous hacker who claimed in a 2004 interview to specialize in "hacking on request," and to have participated in a successful attack on U.S. government infrastructure.
He was arrested in December 2016 on charges of treason and working as a double-agent for the U.S. by the Federal Security Service (FSB), according to The Moscow Times.
He also is wanted for arrest by the FBI.
"From at least January of 2014, continuing through December of 2016, Dmitry Aleksandrovich Dokuchaev is alleged to have conspired with, among others, known and unknown FSB officers, including Igor Sushchin, to protect, direct, facilitate, and pay criminal hackers, including Alexsey Belan," the FBI claims.
"Dokuchaev and his conspirators allegedly agreed to, and did, gain unauthorized access to the computer networks of and user accounts hosted at major companies providing worldwide webmail and internet-related services in the Northern District of California and elsewhere."
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