Cyber attack, photo: Maksim shmeljov, dreamstime.com
France has directly accused the Russian military service of information on several cyber attacks, including ministries, defense companies and think tank, attacks that the French Foreign Ministry says are meant to destabilize the country, reports Reuters.
“From 2021, this operandi module has been used against over ten French entities,” the ministry said in a statement.
The accusations, which refer to the APT28 unit of the GRU that would be located in Rostov-on-Don, are not the first made by the Western powers, but is for the first time that Paris-which invokes data provided by their own information services-throws blame on the Russian state.
Among the countries that open Russia of Russia of cyber attacks in the last period are Finland, who are facing sabotage acts and believes that Russia is employed in a wide range of influence operations, according to the Minister of Interior, Lulu Ranne.
“We are facing disturbances, acts of sabotage, various types of damage and instrumentalized migration, among others. This creates a feeling of insecurity and ambiguity in front of what is true and what is not,” said Ranne, in October 2024.
She said that several investigations are in progress. “Based on the information provided by civil and military intelligence services, we have clear indications that show to Russia,” the minister added that the connection was obvious in terms of interference in the GPS system with which Finland faced in air and maritime traffic.
“At the moment, Russia is the main entity that triggers a wide range of influence operations against us,” said the Helsinki official.
Germany even recalled the ambassador to Moscow in May 2024, after Berlin accused Moscow of launching cyber attacks on his defense companies, the aerospace industry and the ruling party.
“The Foreign Minister recalled the ambassador Otto Graf Lambsdorff to Berlin for consultations,” after Berlin accused Moscow for a cyber spy campaign carried out by APT 28.
The recall is in accordance with the diplomatic protocol, and Lambsdorff stayed in Berlin for a week before returning to Moscow, the spokesman added.
The APT28 group-also known as “Fancy Bear”-has exploited unknown vulnerability in Microsoft Outlook to compromise e-mail accounts, according to German authorities. The cyber campaign has affected other countries, including the Czech Republic, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia and Sweden.
