Treasury sanctions primary hacker, leader of Russian hactivist group

July 19 (UPI) -- The Treasury Department announced on Friday that it is sanctioning two Russian hackers who are part of the group Cyber Army of Russia Reborn for digital attacks on U.S. critical infrastructure.

Yuliya Vladimirovna Pankratova, the group's leader and Denis Olegovich Degtyarenko, its primary hacker are accused of manipulating industrial control system equipment at water supply, hydroelectric, wastewater and energy facilities around the United States and Europe, the Treasury Department said.

"CARR and its members' efforts to target our critical infrastructure represent an unacceptable threat to our citizens and our communities, with potentially dangerous consequences," Brian E. Nelson, the Treasury's under-secretary of terrorism and financial intelligence, said in a statement.

"The United States has and will continue to take action using our full range of tools to hold accountable these and other individuals for their malicious cyber activities."

CARR claimed responsibility for the overflow of water storage tanks in Abernathy and Muleshoe, Texas, in January. The group bragged about the manipulation in a public forum video. The Treasury said the group's "lack of technical sophistication" prevented them from causing major damage.

The organization also conducted low-impact DDoS attacks in Ukraine along with the government and companies that supported Ukraine in 2022. In 2023, CARR took responsibility for industrial control system attacks at numerous infrastructure targets in the United States and Europe in 2023.

"This designation follows several other recent U.S. Treasury actions to combat Russia-based cyber criminals," the Treasury said. "These include the May 7, 2024, designation of Dmitry Khoroshev, also known as LockBitSupp, who is a leader of the LockBit ransomware group, and the February 20, 2024, designation of LockBit affiliates Ivan Kondratiev and Artur Sungatov."

Lockbit has performed high-profile ransomware attacks on business and infrastructure targets since 2019 but countries have been fighting back with sanctions and sometimes even arrests.