Senior security officials in the U.S. and U.K. issued a joint statement Monday blaming Russia for a "malicious" cyber offensive aimed at stealing intellectual property and possible espionage to support the "Russian Federation's national security and economic goals," ABC News reports.
The warning came from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and Federal Bureau of Investigation and Britain's National Cyber Security Center and warned of specific attacks on routers. The main advice offered to companies and individuals was to make sure router software was up to date and passwords were secure.
"Russian state-sponsored actors are using compromised routers to conduct spoofing 'man-in-the-middle' attacks to support espionage, extract intellectual property, maintain persistent access to victim networks and potentially lay a foundation for future offensive operations," according to a joint statement. "Multiple sources including private and public-sector cybersecurity research organizations and allies have reported this activity to the U.S. and U.K. governments."
U.S. and U.K. relations with Russia has soured lately following Moscow's use of a nerve agent to poison a former double agent in Britain in March and the U.S.-led bombing of Syria over the weekend. The Trump administration launched airstrikes after Syria, Russia's ally, used chemical weapons on civilians.
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