The Russian government has reportedly spied on hundreds of energy and technology firms in the US, Europe and Asia for alleged economic gains, a new report claims.
According to the new report from US cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike, Moscow has for the first time resorted to cyber attacks for economic rather than political benefits.
The report revealed that some of the victims of the earlier unreported cyber spying campaign have lost expensive intellectual property.
CTO Dmitri Alperovitch told Reuters: "These attacks appear to have been motivated by the Russian government’s interest in helping its industry maintain competitiveness in key areas of national importance."
"We are very confident about this," he added.
The report also found that manufacturing and construction firms in the US, Europe and Middle East in addition to US healthcare providers had been targeted.
"They are copying the Chinese play book," Alperovitch said. "Cyber espionage is very lucrative for economic benefit to a nation."
Russia-based ENERGETIC BEAR group reportedly gathers intelligence on the energy industry.
