US offers $10 million bounty for info on hackers targeting Signal and WhatsApp

── Details ──

The United States announced a $10 million reward for anyone who can provide actionable intelligence on the group responsible for a recent hacking campaign that compromised users of Signal and WhatsApp — a campaign the Department of Justice says is tied to two Russian state‑backed hacking units and has been active since at least March [ars-technica]. The reward is part of a broader U.S. effort to disrupt foreign‑sponsored cyber operations and to bring the perpetrators to justice. The Department of State’s Rewards for Justice program will pay the bounty to individuals who can identify, locate, or help apprehend members of the group, or supply technical details that enable authorities to attribute the attacks [ars-technica].

── Why it matters ──

The campaign matters because it targets platforms that rely on end‑to‑end encryption, undermining confidence in secure communications. Its persistence since March shows the actors can evade detection and continue harvesting credentials and messages. By offering a ten‑million‑dollar incentive, the U.S. signals both the seriousness of the threat and a willingness to enlist private‑sector and public cooperation to accelerate intelligence collection.