"We are seeing a dramatic rise in cyber intrusion activity from the Russian government since the sanctions regime was put in place against them last year," Dmitri Alperovitch, the co-founder of cybersecurity company CrowdStrike, told The Daily Beast. Beginning in March 2014, the Obama administration imposed a series of sanctions designed to punish Russia for its invasion of Crimea and subsequent military incursions in eastern Ukraine, and U.S. officials have said they're helping to depress Russia's economy, already hurting because of falling oil prices. Alperovitch said there was "no indication that [the cyberintrusions] are retaliatory."