Germany summons Russian envoy over cyberattack DW 05032024

pBerlin has summoned a top Russian envoy after accusing Russian hackers of targeting the governing coalitions SPD as well as some companies The Czech Republic also said its institutions were targetedppGermany accused Russias military intelligence service the GRU on Friday of being behind a 2023 cyberattack that targeted the Social Democrats SPDppNATO member Germany has been among the Western nations providing military support to Ukraine as it fights a Russian invasion and there have also been recent accusations of increased espionageppIn June 2023 the SPD announced that cybercriminals had targeted email accounts belonging to its executives earlier that yearppGerman Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said Friday that a newly conducted government investigation found that that cyberattack was carried out by a group called APT28ppThe Czech Republic said its institutions too have been targeted by APT28 also known as Fancy Bear and controlled by Russias GRU military intelligence service The Czech Foreign Ministry said on Friday that it believed the group had exploited a vulnerability in Microsofts Outlook programppTo view this video please enable JavaScript and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 videoppRussian state hackers attacked Germany in cyberspace German Foreign Minister Baerbock saidppToday we can say unambiguously  we can attribute this cyberattack to a group called APT28 which is steered by the military intelligence service of Russia she told a news conference during a visit to AustraliappAPT28 has been accused of dozens of cyberattacks around the worldppIn other words it was a statesponsored Russian cyber attack on Germany Baerbock said This is absolutely intolerable and unacceptable and will have consequencesppShe did not specify what those consequences could beppGerman Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said Germany would act alongside the European Union and NATO in its responseppThe Russian cyberattacks are a threat to our democracy which we are resolutely countering Faeser said in a statement Under no circumstances will we allow ourselves to be intimidated by the Russian regimeppThe Interior Ministry added that there was some evidence the Russian cyberattack also compromised the servers of some German companiesppThe European Union of which both Berlin and Prague are members condemned a malicious cybercampaign against the two countries The bloc warned that it would use a full spectrum of tools to respondppNATO said in a statement that it stands in solidarity with Germany and the Czech Republic following the attacks ppThe US also released a statement calling on Moscow to stop this malicious activity and abide by its international commitments and obligationsppThe Russian Embassy in Germany denied Moscow had a role in the 2023 attack saying its envoy categorically rejected the accusations that Russian state structures were involved in the given incident as unsubstantiated and groundless ppThe German Foreign Ministry later said it had summoned the Russian envoy about the alleged cyberattacksppWe have summoned the acting charge daffaires of the Russian Embassy a ministry spokesman told reporters He added that the government would use the entire spectrum of measures to deter and respond to Russias aggressive behavior in cyberspaceppBaerbock first addressed the cyberattacks while speaking after meeting Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong in AdelaideppWong said Australia was also deeply troubled by the cyber activity raised by BaerbockppAustralia stands in solidarity with Germany in calling out states that act contrary to the norms of responsible state behavior in cyberspace Wong saidpplorcsms AFP ReutersppWhile youre here Every Tuesday DW editors round up what is happening in German politics and society You can sign up here for the weekly email newsletter Berlin Briefingp