Like other cybercriminals-turned-government hackers, Shaltai Boltai’s members are believed to have collaborated with Russian intelligence personnel, namely, those from the Federal Security Service.
That led to the arrest of Sergei Mikhailov, the deputy director of the service’s cybersecurity organ, and one of several individuals arrested around the same time as the members of Shaltai Boltai and charged with treason, though the authorities never publicly linked the two cases.
Mr. Mikhailov’s possible ties to Shaltai Boltai emerged in Russian news reports.
Other Russian news outlets reported a competing theory for the intelligence officer’s arrest: that he had passed to the F.B.I. secrets about Russia’s government-backed hacking programs, helping in the investigation of Russian meddling in the presidential election.
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