An investigation conducted by Germany shows that behind the attacks last year was a group of hackers directed by the Russian military intelligence service GRU.
Roni Kuronen,
Yrjö Kokkonen,
STT
15:59•Updated 16:41
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock accused Russia on Friday of a large-scale cyber attack against members of Germany’s Social Democratic Party (SPD) and the country’s defense and technology companies.
The attack, which took down several websites, took place shortly after Germany had approved sending tanks to Ukraine.
Baerbock said the just-completed official investigations showed that the APT28 hacking group, also known as Fancy Bear, controlled by Russia’s military intelligence agency GRU, was behind the attacks last year. At the same time, he warned Russia that actions will have consequences.
– It was a Russian state-led online attack against Germany. This cannot be allowed and there will be consequences, said Baerbock, who is visiting Australia.
The APT28 group has been accused of numerous cyberattacks on different countries. Baerbock did not elaborate on the attack, but the German media already reported last year that there had been a cyber attack and data breach against the SPD leadership in January of last year.
Shortly after Germany’s announcement, the government of the Czech Republic also accused Russia of targeting various targets in the country with cyberattacks. According to the government, the APT28 hacker group was also behind the attacks.
– The clear naming of the attacker serves our national interests, said the Czech foreign minister Jan Lipavsky for news agency AFP.
The EU condemns the Russian attacks
German Minister of the Interior Nancy Faeser says that Germany plans to discuss Russian state-led cyber attacks with the EU and NATO.
– Russian cyberattacks are a threat to our democracy, and that’s why we fight them resolutely. Under no circumstances are we going to let the intimidation attempts of the Russian leadership influence us, says Faeser of The Guardian by.
According to Faeser, the European Parliament elections in June give reason for special vigilance.
The EU has said on Friday that it condemns Russia’s irresponsible attacks against Germany and the Czech Republic. At the same time, it also said that other EU member states, such as Poland, Lithuania, Slovakia and Sweden, had previously been the targets of attacks by the same group.
Russia has denied reports that it participated in cyberattacks targeting Germany.