Germany’s domestic intelligence agency, Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz (BfV), revealed on Monday (9) that hacker groups sponsored by the Russian regime are responsible for a series of attacks on countries in the European Union and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
The investigation was carried out in partnership with US intelligence – FBI – and other international allies.
According to the German agency, the perpetrators of the cyber threats belong to the Russian military unit GRU 29155, “responsible for computer network operations against global targets for the purposes of espionage, sabotage and reputational damage since at least 2020,” the Bfv reported.
The investigation highlighted that the criminals acted by defacing websites and publishing data stolen from NATO and EU member countries.
The GRU was also involved in attacks on Ukrainian targets in January 2022, a month before Moscow invaded the neighboring territory. “Unit 29155 also attacked networks in NATO member states in Europe and North America, as well as countries in Latin America and Central Asia,” the German agency noted.
This same Russian unit is suspected of being responsible for the poisoning of former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in Britain in 2018, the Bfv reported in its investigation.
Last Thursday, the United States announced an indictment against six Russian hackers for conspiring to commit computer intrusions and wire fraud against Ukrainian institutions and offered a reward of up to $10 million for information about their location or activities.
The US Justice Department said in a statement that a grand jury in Maryland indicted the six hackers, all of whom are Russian residents. Five of them are officers of Unit 29155 of Russia’s Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU), a military intelligence agency of the General Staff of the Armed Forces.
The sixth individual is a civilian who was previously charged with conspiracy to commit computer intrusion and who is now also charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud.
The indictment alleges that these GRU hackers and the civilian participated in a conspiracy to hack, leak data and destroy computer systems associated with the Ukrainian government prior to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The defendants allegedly acted in this way to sow concern among Ukrainian citizens regarding the security of their government systems and personal data.
They all participated in the GRU’s WhisperGate campaign, which included attacks on critical Ukrainian infrastructure.
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