Russia hacked encrypted FBI radio communications

Outdated radio systems used to track agents on US soil believed to have been compromised by an insider

Russian intelligence hacked encrypted FBI radio communications over a period of six years, according to an in-depth report published today.

The compromise started in around 2011, according to the Yahoo News report, with US intelligence becoming aware of that their communications had been cracked in 2012. However, it wasn't until the last days of the Obama administration that officials finally acted, swooping on two sprawling compounds where the Russian operation was being masterminded and expelling 36 Russian diplomats.

Russian intelligence officers 'were able to intercept, record and eventually crack the codes to FBI radio communications'

At the time, the administration claimed that the expulsions were in response to alleged Russian interference in the 2016 presidential elections.

The operation "hampered the FBI's ability to track Russian spies on US soil at a time of increasing tension with Moscow, forced the FBI and CIA to cease contact with some of their Russian assets, and prompted tighter security procedures at key U.S. national security facilities in the Washington area and elsewhere", according to the Yahoo News exclusive.

The scheme was uncovered following the interception of a number of Russian intelligence operatives embedded within US society under "deep non-official cover", which led to another group of Russian intelligence officers attempting to recruit US contacts. These include Carter Page, a US businessman who acted as an unpaid foreign policy advisor to Donald Trump during his 2016 presidential campaign.

US officials insisted that only 'moderately encrypted communications' were cracked

In the process, US intelligence realised why Russian intelligence agents had been able to shake-off surveillance so easily, according to Yahoo News' anonymous sources.

The compromise focused on the encrypted radio systems used by the FBI's mobile surveillance groups, whose role is to track the movement of Russian spies in the US. At the same time, Russian intelligence was also able to compromise the FBI's backup communications systems, too - mobile phones with push-to-talk capabilities.

Furthermore, the Russian intelligence officers "were able to intercept, record and eventually crack the codes to FBI radio communications" and also ran "mobile listening posts", capable of drive-by communications interceptions.

"Some Russian intelligence officers, carrying signals intelligence gear, would walk near FBI surveillance teams. Others drove vans full of listening equipment aimed at intercepting FBI teams' communications," claims the report.

The FBI blames the low-tech "lightweight radios" it was issued with, and a lack of investment in more up-to-date technology. As a result, it was left running a variety of different systems, rather than an integrated system, that were often ineffective at range. It is not clear how Russian intelligence was able to crack the communications system, but Yahoo News' sources indicated that it was via an insider rather than reverse engineering a captured device.

However, US officials insisted that only "moderately encrypted communications" were cracked and added that a reticence to reveal its extent meant that Russian intelligence failed to make the most of the compromise.

Earlier this year, the Russian government warned that an all-out cyber war remained a possibility, with hackers believed to be under the direction of the Russian military already having practised their art on neighbouring Ukraine.