It's a funny story, but I don't know that we'd be able to verify the difference between this story and "Russian hackers infect healthcare network, take money, m

It's a funny story, but I don't know that we'd be able to verify the difference between this story and "Russian hackers infect healthcare network, take money, make up a funny story for deniability and then wreak havoc on critical US services anyway, secretly get medals from Putin" These kinds of organizations sit always somewhere on a blurry line between "state-tolerated" and "state-affiliated" in the first place. Given current geopolitical circumstances it wouldn't surprise me if they've been given a green light to hit more significant targets.