US indicts seven Russian military intel agents in global hacking conspiracy

The US Justice Department Thursday indicted seven agents of Russia's GRU military intelligence agency as part of a joint crackdown with Western allies on a series of major hacking plots attributed to Moscow. The indictments were announced as Dutch security services said they had thwarted a cyber attack on the global chemical weapons watchdog, the OPCW -- expelling four Russian agents -- and after Britain and Australia blamed the GRU for plots that notably targeted the US Democratic Party and global sports bodies. John Demers, US Assistant Attorney General for National Security, confirmed the seven agents were indicted in connection to the attack on the OPCW, on football's governing body FIFA and the US and global anti-doping agencies, and on the US nuclear energy company Westinghouse among others.