Shortly before the general election: EU accuses Russia of cyber attacks

The EU is making serious allegations against Russia. Cyber ​​attacks are used to tap data in order to spread false information in a targeted manner. The goals: politicians, journalists, activists – also in Germany.

The EU accuses Russia of serious cyberattacks on the Internet – primarily to spread false information on the Internet in a targeted manner. The federal government had recently made similar allegations.

In the Declaration of the 27 EU countries there is talk of “malicious activities” targeted against MPs, government officials, other politicians, as well as representatives of the press and civil society in the EU.

“Threat to Democratic Values”

In the cyberattacks, the perpetrators would try to access the personal accounts of those affected or other computer systems. The EU left no doubt that it partially sees Russian actors behind these attacks. The member states called on Russia to comply with the standards for responsible government behavior in cyberspace. Attacks on the Internet are “unacceptable” because they threaten the “integrity and security, democratic values ​​and principles” of EU countries.

The statement also lists the “ghostwriter” campaign as an example of such attacks on the Internet. The group behind this campaign has been active for a long time. In March of this year, for example, there were hacker attacks on the accounts and data of several members of the Bundestag and dozens of state parliament representatives. The perpetrators used so-called phishing emails to access the target persons’ access data and passwords.

Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office determined

About two weeks ago, the Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office finally started investigations into the “ghostwriter” campaign. The German government had previously announced that it suspected the Russian military intelligence service GRU was behind the attacks and accused Russia of “unacceptable action”.

Russia itself denies all allegations. In response to the Federal Government’s statement, the Foreign Ministry announced in Moscow that there was no evidence “of any involvement of the Russian Federation in these attacks”.

The EU announced that it would continue to deal with the problem and “consider further steps”. However, the member states’ declaration left open which measures were to be taken.