Russian hacker claims he can prove he breached DNC networks

A Russian hacker, who earlier claimed he hacked the Democratic National Committee (DNC) networks on the orders of Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB), says he can prove he was behind the breach.

Konstantin Kozlovsky, who was jailed on cyber fraud charges in Russia, in an interview said that he left a file on the DNC network containing markers to prove he had been there, Russian network TV Rain reported.

"Specifically, Kozlovsky said he left a '.dat' file with his passport number and the number of his visa to Caribbean island St. Martin on the DNC's internal server," said the interview.

Kozlovsky is one of the hackers whom Russian authorities arrested last year for using malware to steal more than $25 million from Russian banks. He was jailed also on the charges of compromising DNC networks during US presidential elections in 2016.

Earlier this year, Kozlovsky, in a testimony on Facebook, said he was ordered by the FSB to hack the DNC.

These claims could puncture Russian President Vladimir Putin's repeated rebuttals on Kremlin's involvement in the presidential hacking campaign.

Kozlovsky also claimed that he wrote malware for the FSB for several years, including the code used in the "WannaCry" ransomware attacks for which the US government has publicly blamed North Korea.

Kozlovsky asserted that FSB agent Major General Dmitry Dokuchayev gave him orders to breach the DNC.

Dokuchayev and three others were arrested on charges of treason in Moscow in late 2016. Dokuchayev is also among several FSB officers wanted by the Justice Department in connection with the 2014 Yahoo breach, the report added.

Surprisingly, the unclassified assessment released by the US intelligence community in January did not specifically mention any role by the FSB.

Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump has said that he believes Robert Mueller, the special counsel in the Russia investigation, will treat him fairly and insisted there has been "no collusion" discovered by the inquiry, a media report said.

In an interview to The New York Times on Thursday, Trump said of the investigation: "It makes the country look very bad, and it puts the country in a very bad position. So the sooner it's worked out, the better it is for the country."

Asked whether he would order the Justice Department to reopen the investigation into his Democrat rival Hillary Clinton's emails, Trump appeared to remain focused on the Russia investigation.

On Monday, Trump's lawyer Jay Sekulow reasserted in an interview with The Wall Street Journal that the parts of special counsel Robert Mueller's probe involving Trump would end soon, though he did not mention specific dates, The Hill magazine reported.

--IANS

sku/him/dg