GRU hackers (Fancy Bear) have managed to access the email accounts of employees of Burisma Holdings. The news was disclosed by researchers at Area 1, a security company that was called to investigate by the Ukrainian gas company. According to the reports, it is currently unclear what the hackers were after exactly, what they did with the information they accessed, and whether they have managed to wipe something from any of the data-centers. This event isn’t just a random cybersecurity incident, but one that creates a stir in the political scene over the United States.
Right now, Burishma Holdings is at the epicenter of 15 investigations from around the world. The allegations include money laundering, conspiracy, tax evasion, and various other violations. Moreover, the son of Joe Biden, Hunter Biden, was a member of the board of directors of Burishma Holdings in 2014. The corruption-prone activities of the company forced U.S. prosecution to probe Hunter Biden, and Joe Biden was accused of being involved. Further revelations that were the result of the ongoing investigations placed Trump in the position of a conspirator, who allegedly coerced Ukrainians into supporting theories that damaged his political opponents, Joe Biden in this case. In fact, President Donald Trump is about to go through an impeachment trial about this in the U.S. Senate next week.
Area 1 now reveals that Russian hackers have been trying to breach Burishma Holdings since November 2019. The FBI and several other committees in the US have launched investigations to determine the exact connection between Trump and Russian officials, as there are serious concerns about Russian interference has occurred in the previous (2016) presidential elections. More specifically, some believe that Russian hackers managed to harm Hillary Clinton’s campaign through data breaches that later went public and undermined her credibility.
Of course, neither Trump nor Putin has admitted to doing any of the above, and the investigations haven’t been concluded so there’s nothing concrete yet. One thing that is certain beyond doubt is that Russian hackers will try their best to play a pivotal role in the upcoming 2020 US Presidential Elections. Hopefully, neither them nor any other foreign adversary (Iranian hackers) will be able to achieve this. Still, it will be interesting to see what other information will surface from now on as we enter deeper into 2020 and the pre-election fight lights up.