Germany suspects Russian cyber attack on research group

Intelligence officials in Germany on Tuesday said they were probing a suspected Russian online attack on the German Association for East European Studies (DGO).

The research group, specializing in foreign policy and international relations, is among several operating in Germany that Moscow has deemed “undesirable.”

What the intelligence agencies said Both Germany’s Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) and the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) were said to be investigating and working on the case. 

According to the German mass-circulation newspaper Bild, the attack had been traced back to hacker group APT 29, also known as “Cozy Bear.”

The Kremlin hackers are also suspected of attacking several German political parties with malware.

The DGO had made the attack public at the end of March, saying that the hackers had gained access to email traffic. 

Experts became suspicious when the academic association’s mail server was accessed repeatedly from an IP address detected in a similar attack last year.

History of threatening behavior A DGO spokesman said that, as well as cyberattacks, some German institutes deemed undesirable in Russia had faced stalking of employees and physical break-ins at their Berlin headquarters.

The DGO’s computer security has been ramped up since last year’s attack, the spokesman said. However, they added that it was difficult for a small organization to defend itself against sophisticated breaches. 

Germany warns Russia over ‘unacceptable’ cyberattack To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video

German security authorities recently sent letters warning of Russian cyberattacks to some 70 academic institutions.