Russian hacker accused in US of damaging critical infrastructure in several countries, including Latvia

WASHINGTON - Russian hacker Artem Revenskyi, arrested in the US, has pleaded guilty and reached a plea deal with investigators on charges of hacking and damaging critical oil and gas infrastructure in the US and other countries, including Latvia, Bloomberg news agency reported, citing case files.

Revenskyi, a member of the Sector 16 hacking group, has been indicted by federal prosecutors in the state of California.

Revenskyi helped gain access to critical systems at oil and gas infrastructure facilities in the US, Ukraine, Germany, France and Latvia, according to law enforcement officials. The targets were mainly countries "considered enemies of the Russian government", prosecutors said.

Revenskyi lived mostly in Russia, but was detained in the Dominican Republic on November 2 last year. From there, he was flown to the US state of New Jersey and taken into custody.

Almost six months later, on April 30, Revenskyi struck a deal with investigators in the hope of reducing the sentence sought by prosecutors. According to Bloomberg, the hacker faces a total of up to 27 years in prison on the charges.

According to documents filed in federal court, Revenskyi was a member of the Sector 16 hacking group.

Sector 16 is described by US law enforcement as an amateur group that uses "primitive hacking techniques to gain access to industrial control systems".

The dossier mentions at least three attacks on industrial infrastructure, which appear to involve Revenskyi.

Among others, in January 2025, Sector 16 hackers breached an oil industry facility in Texas. The hackers managed to gain access to a SCADA system that controlled oil pumps and storage tanks.

Earlier in the year, the group hacked an oil and gas facility in North Dakota and then developed a plan to sell access to the facility to the Russian government.

Facilities in New York and Pennsylvania were also hacked, but it is not known whether they were oil refineries or other facilities.

The dossier also describes planned attacks on Ukraine's energy infrastructure.