Russia hacked Ukraine gas company linked to Joe Biden's son Hunter to dig up dirt ahead of election, says report
It seems Ukraine will continue to steal the headlines in the year of the American presidential election, thanks to Russia.
According to reports, the Kremlin's military intelligence agents have hacked subsidiaries of Burisma Holdings, the controversial gas company in Ukraine has been making headlines for the last many months.
Hunter Biden, son of Democratic presidential hopeful Joe Biden, was on the board of the firm in the past and President Donald Trump had accused both father and son of indulging in corruption in the Eastern European nation to make gains.
The accusations backfired on Trump when he was counter-accused of seeking foreign help to defeat his domestic opponent Biden and consequently, the Democrats launched an impeachment probe against him where he was impeached in the House.
Trump was accused of pressuring his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky to probe the Bidens. Joe, according to Trump, had misused his position as the vice president of the US when Barack Obama was in change.
The hacking attempts against Burisma reportedly started early last November when the impeachment proceeding was in full flow. On Monday, January 13, The New York Times cited security experts saying that it was still not clear what the hackers found or what they were looking for.
Russia trying to discredit Bidens?
Going by the timing and extent of the attacks, experts suspected that Russia might be trying to create a trap for the Bidens' downfall. Joe is one of the frontrunners in the Democratic camp and his fall could hit his party's chances of beating Trump this year hard.
The hackers are believed to work for a military intelligence unit that was earlier known by the name of GRU and also for private researchers known by the name of "Fancy Bear".
The Times report also added that the hackers allegedly used phishing emails to steal usernames and passwords, according to Silicon Valley security firm Area 1, which detected the hacking on New Year's Eve.
The apparent hacking reportedly had a striking similarity to Russia's hacking of emails from former secretary of state Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman and the Democratic National Committee during the 2016 presidential election.