German intel warns of Russian cyber attacks

Germany's domestic intelligence agency warned on Thursday of the heightened risk of Russian cyberattacks, including a phishing campaign to infiltrate European governments, reported dpa.

"Russian actors continue to strive to influence political and public opinion in Germany through the dissemination of propaganda, disinformation and through other attempts to exert influence in Russia's favour," the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) said in a statement late Wednesday.

As an example of interference, it said an IT security company had reported that "compromised email accounts of Ukrainian military personnel are being used to carry out phishing attacks against politicians of various European governments."

The malware used in this case was said to share traits with the "Ghostwriter" campaign.

The intelligence agency has observed numerous attacks by the "Ghostwriter" persona, including shortly after the start of the Russian invasion last month.

The agency warned that a newly registered domain - "dienste-email.eu" - had been assigned to this actor and advised institutions to block that email address.

However, the statement said that no attacks had yet been reported via this address.

Even before Russia invaded Ukraine, the German Foreign Office reported back in September that Berlin had linked Ghostwriter activities "to cyberactors of the Russian state and specifically to the Russian military intelligence service GRU."

"The work of security experts in companies is becoming increasingly important," BfV vice president Sinan Selen said in Berlin on Thursday.