Berlin accuses Moscow of an “intolerable” cyberattack and promises “consequences”

Berlin accused Russian hackers supported by Moscow of a cyberattack on Friday “intolerable” 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”German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said at a press conference in Australia.

“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.

International support

Ms Baerbock spoke after a meeting in Adelaide with her Australian counterpart Penny Wong who said “deeply disturbed”assuring Berlin of Canberra’s support. “We have already joined the US, UK, Canada and New Zealand in attributing malicious cyber activity to APT28”declared Ms. Wong.

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 information from the German press in 2023 indicating that an SPD official had been targeted by a cyberattack “possibly resulting in possible disclosure of data”. This information reported “concrete signs” of Russian origin, according to the agency.