Just weeks before the European Parliament elections in late May, a spying campaign was carried out targeting the European Union embassy in Moscow. Hackers managed to steal very important confidential data from the embassy's internal network. Suspicion of the attack falls on Russian hackers.
What is surprising is not the attack by Russian hackers, but the fact that the European External Action Service did not mention anything about the attack on senior Brussels officials, such as European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and European Council President Donald Tusk.
The first attack carried out by Russian hackers took place in February 2017. However, it was only discovered two months ago, in April 2019, and there is still no information about the type and amount of information stolen by Moscow.
According to analysis, the espionage was based on a continuous and sophisticated hacking technique, which helped the hackers gain access to the system and remain “invisible” for a long time.
The 28 EU members have been informed of the breach, but it is not yet known how much data was stolen from each country, as well as from the European Commission. An EU spokesman said there were signs that the systems of the EU embassy in Moscow had been compromised. He also said measures had been taken to ensure the security of the network and an investigation had been launched.
This is not the first time we have heard of espionage campaigns by Russian hackers. In the past, Russia has been accused several times of attempting to interfere in elections in European countries and the United States.
The EU has taken a number of measures to combat cyberattacks. One of them was aimed at combating disinformation, as it is a serious issue. In 2014, Russia had circulated conspiracy theories about the downing of MH17.
