More recently, intelligence analysts determined that a prominent Russian cybercriminal—the leader of an elite cybercrime group that called itself Evil Corp—wasn’t just working hand-in-hand with the FSB. He was FSB. “There’s a pax mafiosa between the Russian regime and its cyber cartels,” is how Tom Kellermann, a Russian cybercrime expert, put it to me as we inched closer to the 2020 election. “Russia’s cybercriminals are treated as a national asset who provide the regime free access to victims of ransomware and financial crime. And in exchange, they get untouchable status. It’s a protection
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