The European Union on Thursday imposed sanctions on two Russian officials and part of Russia’s GRU military intelligence agency over a cyberattack against the German parliament in 2015.
EU headquarters said in a statement that travel bans and asset freezes have been imposed on the two men: Igor Kostyukov, head of the Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, and Dmitry Badin, a military intelligence officer.
The EU said that Badin, who is also being sought by U.S. authorities, was part of a team that launched the attacks on the Bundestag.
“This cyber-attack targeted the parliament’s information system and affected its operation for several days. A significant amount of data was stolen and the email accounts of several MPs as well as of Chancellor Angela Merkel were affected,” it said.
The part of the intelligence agency targeted is known as “military unit 26165,” or more commonly by monikers like APT28, Fancy Bear, Pawn Storm and Strontium. The EU said it “is responsible for cyber-attacks with a significant effect constituting an external threat to the Union or its Member States.”
The same unit stands accused of trying to hack into the Wi-Fi network of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, based in the Netherlands, in 2018.
The sanctions were imposed under a set of measures designed to “prevent, discourage, deter and respond to continuing and increasing malicious behavior in cyberspace.” EU citizens and organizations are banned from making funds available to those listed.
A total of eight people and four organizations now appear on the list.
Russian officials have repeatedly denied any involvement by Moscow in the hacking attack. They have similarly dismissed charges of Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election and alleged cyberattacks on other Western nations and institutions.
Diplomatic ties between Germany and Russia are already tense, following the brazen killing of a Georgian man on the streets of Berlin last year. Prosecutors have suggested the hit was ordered either by Moscow or authorities in the Russian republic of Chechnya.
Related: Russia-Linked Cybercriminals Use Legitimate Tools in Attacks on German Firms
Related: German Experts See Russian Link in Deadly Hospital Hacking
More from Associated Press
- Idaho Hospitals Working to Resume Full Operations After Cyberattack
- Major Massachusetts Health Insurer Hit by Ransomware Attack, Member Data May Be Compromised
- Biden Picks New NSA Head, Key to Support of Ukraine, Defense of US Elections
- White House Unveils New Efforts to Guide Federal Research of AI
- Meta Fined Record $1.3 Billion and Ordered to Stop Sending European User Data to US
- China Tells Tech Manufacturers to Stop Using Micron Chips, Stepping Up Feud With United States
- ChatGPT’s Chief Testifies Before Congress, Calls for New Agency to Regulate Artificial Intelligence
- Philadelphia Inquirer Hit by Cyberattack Causing Newspaper’s Largest Disruption in Decades
Latest News
- In Other News: Government Use of Spyware, New Industrial Security Tools, Japan Router Hack
- OpenAI Unveils Million-Dollar Cybersecurity Grant Program
- Galvanick Banks $10 Million for Industrial XDR Technology
- Information of 2.5M People Stolen in Ransomware Attack at Massachusetts Health Insurer
- US, South Korea Detail North Korea’s Social Engineering Techniques
- High-Severity Vulnerabilities Patched in Splunk Enterprise
- Idaho Hospitals Working to Resume Full Operations After Cyberattack
- Enzo Biochem Ransomware Attack Exposes Information of 2.5M Individuals
