Three former U.S. intelligence officers who worked on counterintelligence and cyber operations told The Daily Beast that a new report this week accusing Russia of infiltrating unclassified networks at the White House was apparently designed to send a message to the Kremlin: We know what you’re up to, and how you’re doing it.

“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.” Rather, as Russia finds itself struggling to stay afloat, “they are using cyber espionage to at least in part compensate for loss of competitiveness they are experiencing.” Alperovitch said the hacking has been tied to a single source, or “actor,” that CrowdStrike refers to as Cozy Bear.