Politically motivated cyberattacks have increased ahead of this month’s EU election, with many linked to Russian state-sponsored actors. Juhan Lepassaar, head of the European Union Agency for Cybersecurity (ENISA), last week told media that overall attempted attacks doubled from the last quarter of 2023 to the first quarter of this year.
“This is part of the Russian war of aggression, which they fight physically in Ukraine but digitally also across Europe,” he said.
Earlier this month, the German government accused Moscow of a series of cyberstrikes on lawmakers from the ruling Social Democrats (SPD) in 2023, including Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
“We can attribute this cyberattack to a group called APT28, which is steered by the military intelligence service of Russia,” Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock told a news conference.