A post by the Czech Respekt just published a story that provides more details about a recent successful intelligence operation carried out by the Security Information Service (BIS), an agency that has been criticized for its incompetence by President Milos Zeman.
The post reports that BIS discovered a group of Russian hackers, which was part of a broader international network, in early 2018, according to Radio Praha.
A few months ago, Czech President Miloš Zeman attacked the Czech Security Intelligence Service (BIS), saying that the Czech agency was incompetent and had not exposed a single Russian or Chinese spy in the past six years. This provoked reactions not only from the media, but from the BIS itself.
The head of the service, Michal Koudelka, said via the organization's website that BIS had halted the activity of dozens of Russian and Chinese invaders, citing as an example the destruction of a Russian information network on Czech soil.
The Czech weekly magazine Respekt claims that it has some information about what happened after it conducted its own long-term investigation across the entire Czech Republic and Russia.
The writer, journalist Ondřej Kundra, who specializes in information matters, says that it appears that the group operating in the Czech Republic was part of a broader international network that coordinates its attacks.
“This was truly a kind of international network, with similar groups of Russian spies based in EU countries. However, we do not know for which specific operation they were working. ”
According to Respekt, the group operated under the cover of two private IT companies, which conducted piratical operations from the companies' computers. These, according to the magazine's sources, were transferred to the Czech Republic via vehicles with dual coverage of Russia.
Mr. Kundra says that the Russian espionage ring also included Russians who had obtained Czech citizenship.
"Initially, they were all Russian citizens who came to the country a few years ago and got citizenship. As we can see now, this was a security threat, because they saw then, something that was probably easier for them as Czech citizens."
The Czech police cannot expel individuals who have been granted Czech citizenship until sufficient evidence against the alleged perpetrators is gathered.
