DPA Report: Russia-linked APT28 group hacked Germany’s government network

Germany Government confirmed that hackers had breached its computer network and implanted a malware that was undetected for one year.

German news agency DPA reported that Russian hackers belonging to the APT28 group (aka Fancy Bear, Pawn Storm, Sednit, Sofacy, and Strontium) have breached Germany’s foreign and interior ministries’ online networks.

The agency, quoting unnamed security sources, revealed that the APT28 hackers planted malware in the ministries’ networks. The malicious code was undetected as long as a year.

“A Russian-backed hacker group known for many high-level cyber attacks was able to infiltrate the German government’s secure computer networks, the dpa news agency reported Wednesday.” reported the ABCnews.

The German Government discovered the intrusion in December but the experts believe that the hackers were inside the networks as long as a year. The DPA also added that hackers were able to penetrate an isolated government IT network.

“within the federal administration the attack was isolated and brought under control.” said the Interior Ministry that also confirmed an ongoing investigation.

“This case is being worked on with the highest priority and considerable resources,” the ministry added.

The hackers exfiltrated 17 gigabytes of data that could be used in further attacks against the German Government.

This isn’t the first time that Russia-linked APT28 was blamed for a cyber attack against Germany, in 2015 the APT group hacked into the systems of the German Parliament.

What will happen in the future?

Top German intelligence officials are requesting to the government to hack back attackers in case of a cyber attack from a foreign government

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Pierluigi Paganini

(Security Affairs – cyber espionage, APT28)

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Pierluigi Paganini

Pierluigi Paganini is member of the ENISA (European Union Agency for Network and Information Security) Threat Landscape Stakeholder Group and Cyber G7 Group, he is also a Security Evangelist, Security Analyst and Freelance Writer. Editor-in-Chief at "Cyber Defense Magazine", Pierluigi is a cyber security expert with over 20 years experience in the field, he is Certified Ethical Hacker at EC Council in London. The passion for writing and a strong belief that security is founded on sharing and awareness led Pierluigi to find the security blog "Security Affairs" recently named a Top National Security Resource for US. Pierluigi is a member of the "The Hacker News" team and he is a writer for some major publications in the field such as Cyber War Zone, ICTTF, Infosec Island, Infosec Institute, The Hacker News Magazine and for many other Security magazines. Author of the Books "The Deep Dark Web" and “Digital Virtual Currency and Bitcoin”.