Petr Nikolayevich Pliskin is an officer of Russian military intelligence (GRU) assigned to Military Unit 74455, the unit known publicly as Sandworm. On October 19, 2020 the U.S. Justice Department announced the indictment of Pliskin and five other Unit 74455 officers for a series of destructive cyberattacks carried out between 2015 and 2019, including attacks on Ukraine’s power grid, the 2017 NotPetya malware attack, the targeting of the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics, and operations against the French elections and investigations of the Skripal poisoning.

According to the Justice Department, Pliskin developed components of the NotPetya and Olympic Destroyer malware. NotPetya spread worldwide from Ukraine in June 2017 and caused billions of dollars in damage. He is charged in seven counts, including conspiracy to commit computer fraud and abuse, wire fraud, damaging protected computers, and aggravated identity theft. Charges are allegations, and he remains at large in Russia.

Sources

• U.S. Department of Justice. “Six Russian GRU Officers Charged in Connection with Worldwide Deployment of Destructive Malware and Other Disruptive Actions in Cyberspace.” Press release, October 19, 2020.
• U.S. Department of Justice. United States v. Yuriy Sergeyevich Andrienko et al., indictment. Western District of Pennsylvania, October 15, 2020.

Summary entry. A fuller, document-based profile is in preparation.