Patcay.com – Elite hackers linked to Russian intelligence have targeted several political parties in Germany with the aim of infiltrating their networks and stealing data.
This information comes from the German cybersecurity agency and security researchers working for Google’s parent company, Alphabet.
In a report released last week, Alphabet’s cybersecurity unit, Mandiant, revealed that they had detected a group of hackers known as APT29.
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Western intelligence agencies accuse this group of operating on behalf of the Russian foreign intelligence service SVR, attempting to deceive ‘important German political figures’ to make them vulnerable to their attacks.
The hackers posed as invitations to a dinner event scheduled for March 1 by the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), a center-right German political party.
Warnings issued by the German cybersecurity agency BSI, reviewed by Reuters, referred to similar incidents, stating that state-sponsored cyber spies are targeting German political parties in an attempt to gain long-term access and steal data.
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In response, the CDU acknowledged that they have long been the target of digital attacks from both domestic and foreign actors. They also emphasized that there was no official CDU dinner event on March 1, and the event was fictitious.
However, the warning did not provide further details about who is suspected to be responsible. Mandiant also did not provide specific information on who the hackers targeted.
BSI stated in its warning that foreign powers are interested in spying on politicians, especially in the context of the upcoming European elections.
Mandiant stated that this targeting aligns with Russia’s focus on the long-term conflict with Ukraine. They noted that these recent attacks are part of Russia’s efforts to undermine European support for Ukraine.
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Germany is one of the Western countries providing military support to Ukraine in its conflict with Russia. However, relations between Berlin and Moscow remain tense, as acknowledged by Russian President Vladimir Putin in December 2023.
Furthermore, Russian and North Korean hackers are suspected of using Generative AI (GAI) tools for cyberattacks, as revealed by Microsoft and OpenAI. Both companies detailed how foreign government-linked hackers leverage GAI in their attacks.