The US has imposed sanctions against five companies and three individuals for allegedly aiding Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB).
The sanctioned entities and individuals were designated under Executive Order 13694, “Blocking the Property of Certain Persons Engaging in Significant Malicious Cyber-Enabled Activities”, and Section 224 of the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act. They are prohibited from any transactions involving the US financial system, and American citizens and companies cannot do business with them going forward.
The United States is committed to aggressively targeting any entity or individual working at the direction of the FSB whose work threatens the United States
– Steven Mnuchin, U.S. Treasury Secretary
The companies sanctioned are Digital Security, ERPScan, Embedi, Kvant Scientific Research Institute, and Divetechnoservices; the individuals – Aleksandr Tribun, Oleg Chirikov and Vladimir Kaganskiy – reportedly have ties to Divetechnoservices.
Digital Security and its subsidiaries ERPScan and Embedi were designated for working on a project “that would increase Russia’s offensive cyber capabilities for the Russian Intelligence Services”. Kvant was designated for being owned by the FSB, and for providing it with “material and technological support”, the latter of which was also the reason for Divetechnoservices being designated.
“The United States is engaged in an ongoing effort to counter malicious actors working at the behest of the Russian Federation and its military and intelligence units to increase Russia’s offensive cyber capabilities,” said Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. “The entities designated today have directly contributed to improving Russia’s cyber and underwater capabilities through their work with the FSB and therefore jeopardize the safety and security of the United States and our allies.”
He added: “The United States is committed to aggressively targeting any entity or individual working at the direction of the FSB whose work threatens the United States and will continue to utilize our sanctions authorities, including those provided under CAATSA, to counter the constantly evolving threats emanating from Russia.”
Mnuchin also gave several examples of “Russia’s malign and destabilizing cyber activities”, including the NotPetya cyberattack, attacks on the US energy grid, and global compromises of network infrastructure devices.
The Treasury previously imposed sanctions on the FSB for alleged cyber attacks carried out on behalf of the Kremlin.
