The European Union can impose sanctions against hacking groups. In 2020 it imposed a second round of cyber sanctions on Fancy Bear for its attacks on the German Bundestag in 2015.
The European Union’s top diplomat Josep Borrell in a statement “strongly condemn[ed] the malicious cyber campaign” by Fancy Bear against Germany and the Czech Republic. “The EU is determined to make use of the full spectrum of measures to prevent, deter and respond to Russia’s malicious behaviour in cyberspace,” Borrell said.
NATO also issued a statement backing Berlin and Prague, adding that allies of the defense alliance were “determined to employ the necessary capabilities in order to deter, defend against and counter the full spectrum of cyber threats to support each other, including by considering coordinated responses.”
Fancy Bear has regularly conducted cyberattacks against European government targets for years. So far, EU sanctions and diplomatic tussling have done little to deter them. Since the start of the war in Ukraine, European countries have suffered from increased cyber, disinformation and so-called “hybrid” attacks like sabotage, often with links to Russian government entities.
The European Parliament last year warned that Fancy Bear posed a “high” threat level to the EU institutions and agencies after it had been found targeting at least seven European governments with hacking campaigns, in a note by the EU’s cyber response unit, reported by POLITICO.
Jacopo Barigazzi contributed reporting.
