Sweden's security service Säpo said a hacking group – known as APT28 or Fancy Bear – linked to the Russian military intelligence agency GRUbreached the Swedish Sports Confederation (SSC) in a campaign carried out between December 2017 and May 2018.During the same period, hackers acting on behalf of the GRU targeted, in addition to Sweden, other prominent sports bodies, such as the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and FIFA.
In Russia it was prohibited to send a national team to the next two Olympic Games and to any sporting event of a world championship for the next two years, after the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) unanimously found that it did not comply with international anti-doping rules.
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Swedish prosecutors have confirmed that the Swedish Athletics Confederation was hacked by the GRU, which stole personal information from athletes – including medical records – and shared it with local media. The campaign was uncovered after a joint operation by the Swedish Security Service and foreign counterparts.
The bad news is that the investigation stopped because, according to prosecutor Mats Ljungqvist, «the necessary conditions for legal proceedings abroad or issuance in Sweden».
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Ljungqvist said: “The investigation shows that the Russian military intelligence service – GRU – through its 85th center (also known as unit 26165) planned and carried out serious data breaches against the Swedish Sports Confederation. The information has been leaked and, based on this information, the Swedish media have written articles following GRU allegations to defame Western athletes and sports organizations.”
Proposal: Russian hackers were planning attacks on the Tokyo Olympics!
This is the first time Swedish officials have officially accused Russia of violating the Swedish Athletics Confederation's rules in 2017.
