EU to Punish for the Cyber Attack on Bundestag

The European Union member states ambassadors have decided to impose sanctions on the people and organisations suspected of involvement in the hacking attacks on the German parliament in 2015. Rikard Jozwiak, the correspondent of Radio Free Europe in Brussels, reported this on 7  October in his Twitter.

According to him, economic restrictions concern two individuals and one company. The final decision will be officially issued on 22 October.

To recap, on 8 May 2015, a hacker under the nickname Scaramouche attacked the German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s PC, gaining access to her e-mail. The attack lasted from 30 April to 20 May 2015. As a result, the attackers had access to at least 16 gigabytes of data, including a big archive of letters from German parliament members.

A group of investigators involved in the case believes Russian military intelligence stands behind the cyberattack. On 5 May this year, Germany’s General Prosecutor’s Office put Dmitry Badin, a Russian, on the international wanted list, accusing him of involvement in unauthorised access to the Bundestag network.

The Russian Federation has repeatedly denied all the suspicions of involvement in hacker attacks.

Bohdan Marusyak