Berlin on Friday accused Russian hackers supported by Moscow of an “intolerable” cyberattack against members of the German Social Democratic Party and warned that it would not remain without consequences.
“Today we can say unambiguously that we can attribute this cyberattack to a group called APT28, which is led by the intelligence services of Russia,” the German Minister of Foreign Affairs said at a press conference in Australia. Foreign Affairs Annalena Baerbock.
“In other words, this was a Russian-backed cyberattack against Germany and it is absolutely intolerable and unacceptable,” she added, promising “consequences.”
The federal investigation into this attack which targeted the SPD in January 2023 has just been completed, the minister said, without giving further details.
Ms Baerbock spoke after a meeting in Adelaide with her Australian counterpart Penny Wong who said she was “deeply troubled”, assuring Berlin of Canberra’s support.
“We have already joined the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada and New Zealand in attributing malicious cyber activity to APT28,” Wong said.
The APT28 group, also known as Fancy Bear, is accused of being responsible for dozens of cyberattacks around the world.
The European Union’s IT security agency noted in 2023 information from the German press indicating that an SPD official had been targeted by a cyberattack “possibly resulting in a possible disclosure of data”.
This information reported “concrete signs” of a Russian origin, according to the agency.
