Washington announces that it has neutralized the Russian spy program called “Snake”

On Tuesday, May 9, the United States announced that it had neutralized, thanks to the FBI, one of the Russian spy programs. “most complex”the source of many attacks against NATO member states over the past 20 years.

This program, called “The Snake”, enabled the Russian Security Services (FSB) to do this Hundreds of sensitive documents were stolen in at least 50 countries.particularly by attacking the computer services of governments, the media, or think tanks, according to a press release from the US Department of Justice.

Thanks to a high-tech operation, which turned this Russian malware against itself, US law enforcement authorities were able to neutralize one of Russia’s most sophisticated tools of cyber-espionage.She was greeted by Deputy Minister of Justice Lisa Monaco.

According to US authorities, the program was directed from an FSB unit called “Turla”, which is based in Ryazan, Russia. It can locate and steal documents and remain undetected indefinitely. Its peculiarity: Torla agents siphoned this data using the global network of infected computers.

In 2018, the German Foreign Ministry revealed that it had been subjected to an unprecedented attack attributed by the media to the “Snake” program, also known as “Uroboros”.

Victims have also been identified in Belgium, Ukraine, the United States, Switzerland and Georgia.

“Perseus” and “Medusa”

Snake has been known to cybersecurity experts for at least a decade. Cisa places its creation date around 2003 and believes it has undergone several updates over time.

that it “The most advanced cyberespionage tool in the FSB’s arsenal”Cisa believes in a document published with her British, Canadian and Australian counterparts, emphasizing the stealth nature of the programme.

“Surprisingly it has very few computer errors, which is surprising given its complexity”as these agencies note.

After studying this program for many years, the US Federal Police succeeded in creating a tool, called Perseus, that is able to communicate with the Adder and order it to be shut down without involving the host computer.

He was kept out of harm’s way during the operation ” Jellyfish “, US Attorney General Merrick Garland said the FBI was coordinating with foreign partners. We will continue to strengthen our collective defenses against efforts to destabilize the Russian regime.a promise.