Säpo now reveals that APT31 carried out extensive cyber attacks in the years 2020 and 2021 against several countries in Europe.
– These attacks were carried out, among other things, from private individuals’ hacked routers in Sweden, says Säpo’s press spokesperson Fredrik Hultgren-Friberg.
The United States has filed charges
The United States has filed charges against the hacker group after extensive cyber attacks against American politicians. The hacker group is said to be part of the Chinese state apparatus.
Pontus Johnson, professor of cyber security, believes that the purpose of the attacks can be to affect critical infrastructure, among other things. The hacker group has sent lots of emails where some have traced the recipient.
– In some cases, they have gone ahead and tried to hack into the email accounts of organizations and people, and technical infrastructure. In some cases, they have succeeded.
In Europe, members of the international alliance Inter-parliamentary alliance on China (IPAC) have been affected. IPAC brings together politicians who work on how democratic countries should face China. Among the members are the Swedish politicians Elisabet Lann (KD), municipal councilor in the city of Gothenburg, and Member of Parliament Joar Forssell (L).
Hacked routers create networks
By hacking Swedes’ routers, the hacker group has built up an infrastructure network that has been used for cyber attacks.
– There they have stolen information from other countries, says Fredrik Hultgren-Friberg.
In addition to the United States, Great Britain, Norway and Finland have also stated that they were affected by the cyber attacks.
Fredrik Hultgren-Friberg cannot go into whether Säpo has assisted the US with the prosecution of the hacker group.
Want to be able to deny the attacks
That the hacker group uses this type of attack is so that they can be denied, says Fredrik Hultgren-Friberg. However, Säpo works with intelligence to map what is happening and tries to interrupt.
– It must be difficult to see who is doing the attack. It takes place in an international context, so in terms of prosecution it becomes very complicated to be able to prosecute and convict someone.