Justice Department Counters Russian Military Intelligence Unit Attack on US Targets

Officials say Russia’s GRU hijacking network gained access to thousands of home and small-office routers to steal sensitive U.S. data.

The Department of Justice in Washington on March 11, 2026. Madalina Kilroy/The Epoch Times

The Justice Department and FBI on April 7 revealed that they have conducted a court-approved technical operation to neutralize part of a network of small office and home office routers in the United States that become commandeered by a unit of Russia’s military intelligence.

Russian Military Unit 26165—also known as APT28, Sofacy Group, Forest Blizzard, Pawn Storm, Fancy Bear, and Sednit—is part of Russia’s Main Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff (commonly known as GRU) and has compromised routers to execute malicious Domain Name System (DNS) hijacking operations across the planet.