U.S. charges Russian “Fancy Bears” hackers in leaks going back to 2016

Seven members of Russia’s military intelligence organization GRU were indicted by a U.S. federal grand jury for hacking into more than 40 sports and anti-doping organizations’ medical files, according to a report by NPR today. The files, hacked from WADA, the IOC and other organizations, related to 250 athletes from 30 countries, in a variety of sports including track and field. Arrest warrants were issued for the seven men, who called themselves the “Fancy Bears,” and who are believed to be in Russia.

RELATED: Hackers release Mo Farah’s medical and drug use files

The charges include conspiracy, wire fraud conspiracy, wire fraud, aggravated identity theft and conspiracy to commit money laundering.

The Russian news agency Tass apparently dismissed the accusations.

The leaked reports began in 2016, the month after Russia’s track and field team was banned from competing at the Rio Olympics, and alleged that athletes including Sir Mo Farah and Galen Rupp were using TUE’s (therapeutic medical exemptions) to get around doping rules, and though the leaks caused some to criticize WADA for being too lax in its granting of TUE’s, some of the supposed leaks are known to have been false.

https://twitter.com/FancyBearsHT/status/776187281308786693

The Fancy Bears claimed their intent was to highlight the hypocrisy of the West by exposing high-profile Olympians who were taking advantage of the WADA therapeutic use TUE system to take performance-enhancing drugs that would otherwise be banned.

The indictments revealed they used sophisticated efforts to cloak their identity, researching their victims, phishing information, and if necessary, traveling abroad to hack into WiFi networks.

Britain and the Netherlands also announced charges against the GRU.