Hactivists expose Russian intelligence kingpin wanted for US election interference

A Ukrainian hacktivist group has published a photo and the personal data of a Russian military intelligence officer wanted by the FBI for US election interference. The information was gathered after hacking his wife’s email.

Ukrainian hacking group "Kiber Sprotyv," which translates as “Cyber Resistance,” and volunteer intelligence community InformNapalm released the personal data and photo of Viktor Borisovich Netyksho on May 20th. It’s the first time that Netyksho, an Officer in Russia’s Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff (GRU), has had his photo made public.

The hackers managed to obtain the information by hacking the email account of Oksana Serhiyivna Netyksho, his wife.

Netyksho is one of the 12 GRU officers wanted by the FBI for interference in the 2016 US Presidential Election. The FBI had photos of 11 officers, while the most important of them, Viktor Netyksho, remained faceless. The agency was previously unable to obtain the officer’s photo from public records and the agency’s intelligence sources.

Hackers gained access to the email account of Netyksho’s wife several months ago, but chose to publish information this week with the intention of ruining the officer’s holidays with his son.

Leaked plane tickets suggest that the family was planning to travel from Moscow to the officer’s home city of Chita. A couple of hours after the information was released, the tickets were cancelled. It’s most likely that Netyksho believed it was too dangerous to travel.

Netyksho was the superior of another Russian hacker working for the GRU, Lieutenant Colonel Sergey Alexandrovich Morgachev, who was infiltrated by Ukrainian hackers earlier this year and his personal data published online.

Kiber Sprotyv previously made headlines after hactivists penetrated the AliExpress shopping account of Russian “war influencer,” Mikhail Luchin and ordered $25,000 worth of strap-ons, vibrators, and other adult toys for him, using money he would otherwise have spent on buying drones for the Kremlin military.

The hacking group also uncovered the identity of the Russian officer responsible for ordering the bombing of the Mariupol Drama Theater in March 2022. The officer has been identified as Colonel Sergey Atroshchenko. The devastating attack resulted in the loss of approximately 600 civilian lives, including numerous children.