FBI Boston helps crack Russian cyber hackers

The FBI in Boston has helped crack a Russian-backed “Moobot” malware hack intended to steal government and corporate secrets.

The FBI reported Thursday that a tip from Ukrainian allies, among others, helped unravel the Russian ruse.

The Russian GRU Military Unit 26165 — who pose as government and international organizations — travel and enter computer systems via routers where they “conceal and otherwise enable a variety of crimes,” the FBI said.

The hackers hunt for credentials while seeking intelligence the Russian covet. The Moobot malware was installed on Ubiquiti Edge OS routers, the agency added, turning the computer networks into a “global cyber espionage platform.”

Firewalls were updated to block the malware to limit the damage, the FBI said.

“Operation Dying Ember was an international effort led by FBI Boston to remediate over a thousand compromised routers belonging to unsuspecting victims here in the United States and around the world that were targeted by malicious, nation state actors in Russia to facilitate their strategic intelligence collection,” said Special Agent in Charge Jodi Cohen of the FBI Boston Division.

This all comes as Russia has obtained a “troubling” emerging anti-satellite weapon, the White House announced Thursday.

“We’re not talking about a weapon that can be used to attack human beings or cause physical destruction here on Earth,” White House national security spokesman John Kirby said, according to the Associated Press.