Security researchers with FireEye are warning that hacking groups supported by the Russian government have already launched attack campaigns in Europe in an attempt to disrupt the elections for the parliament of the European Union (EU), which will take place in May.
Russian advanced persistent threat groups including APT28 (aka Fancy Bear) and Sandworm Team are using phishing and other attack techniques in order to obtain access to the networks of governments, political parties and media outlets in EU member states. When it comes to the main motive driving the campaign, Benjamin Read of FireEye thinks “[t]he groups could be trying to gain access to the targeted networks in order to gather information that will allow Russia to make more informed political decisions, or it could be gearing up to leak data that would be damaging for a particular political party or candidate ahead of the European elections.”
Read more: Cyber-espionage warning: Russian hacking groups step up attacks ahead of European elections