ON "60 MINUTES," A GROWING AND VIRULENT SECURITY THREAT: A RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT-BACKED CYBER MAFIA STEALING MONEY AND SECRETS

President Putin Personally Aware of Some of the Hacking, Says a Former Obama Administration National Security Official

A cyber mafia kingpin backed by the Russian government is accused of infecting computers worldwide to steal untold millions and to help Russian intelligence gather secrets. It is an example of the growing partnership between bigtime cyber criminals and Russian intelligence. In return, Russia helps the cyber criminals avoid detection and arrest. Some of their activities are directly known by President Putin himself, says a former Obama administration national security official. Lesley Stahl reports on this virulent threat to U.S. security on the next edition of 60 MINUTES, Sunday, April 21 (7:00-8:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network.

"Increasingly, you cannot tell which is which when it comes to the criminal and the intelligence agency," says John Carlin, the assistant AG for national security in the Obama administration. "So one day, the same crook may be doing something purely to make a buck. But that same crook may be directed by a trained intelligence operative using the same tools and techniques to steal information from them for the goals of the state," Carlin tells Stahl.

Some of those crooks are part of a cyber mafia known as "The Business Club," says Dave Hickton, the former U.S. attorney in Pittsburgh. One of the most notorious, Evgeniy Bogachev, is now on the FBI's most wanted cyber list. "We were chasing a group of individuals, which was known as the Business Club, which was a collection of some of the most skilled and dangerous cybercriminals in the world who had formed what was basically a 21st century mafia don club for the internet," says Hickton.

Through its hacking schemes, the criminals can see the information they need to steal passwords, drain bank accounts and learn compromising information that could be used to blackmail intelligence agents. Cyber security experts showed Stahl a map of infected computers worldwide, up to a million, says the F.B.I. No one knows exactly how much money the group has stolen."We stopped counting at $100 million in the United States," says Hickton. "And I really think the answer is he stole as much as you can count."

Carlin says Russia is a kleptocracy, telling Stahl, "This is a government by theft... and the thing that matters the most is that you do what the don wants.... And here, the head of the crime family is Putin." he says. "There is no doubt that [Putin] is both aware of it and has personally sanctioned some of the activity... increasingly today, the Russian government is a criminal syndicate... when it comes to cyber activity, and it's causing harm to countries, companies, and people throughout the world.," says Carlin.

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