“Russia’s ‘one of the most sophisticated hacker groups’ conducts cyberattacks on EU government websites – Politico
The European Union’s cyber emergency response team has warned that the Russian hacker group Fancy Bear has targeted European governments.
This was reported by Politico.
It is noted that at least seven websites of European governments have been the targets of a phishing campaign that involves the use of specially designed lures to attack specific targets, encouraging them to download malware or provide access to digital systems.
“We assess that these activities pose a high level of threat to EU institutions and agencies,” the EU’s Cyber Emergency Response Team (CERT-EU) said in a November statement.
The Fancy Bear group has been linked to Russian special services. According to the United States, this cyber group was behind the hacker attacks on the Democratic National Committee in 2016, which contributed to Donald Trump’s election victory. In 2015, the group also carried out a cyberattack on the German Bundestag.
“Fancy Bear uses a variety of victim-baiting documents, including the minutes of a European Parliament subcommittee and a report by a United Nations special committee,” the statement said.
The warning comes amid growing concerns that next year’s European elections will be targeted by hacker groups from countries with a cyber offensive program against Europe, such as Russia and China.
Politico emphasizes that Fancy Bear is one of the most sophisticated hacker groups in Moscow, operating for at least 15 years. It specializes in infiltrating government and critical industry organizations in the West and using hacked information to undermine policy.
CERT-EU supports all EU institutions in their rapid response to cyber attacks. It also works with national cyber agencies and organizations to share intelligence and repel attacks.
European Commission spokesman Johannes Barke declined to comment on the new warning, but said the institution is “aware of the growing number of malicious cyber activities on a global scale.”
“Regular information sharing is of paramount importance to allow all key EU stakeholders to be aware of possible threats and to gain new knowledge where possible to assess and mitigate cyber risks,” he said.
At the same time, the European Parliament and the Council of the EU declined to comment.
