EU Sanctions Russians For Attacks On Estonia

Uploaded on 2025-02-03 in NEWS-Cybersecurity News, INTELLIGENCE-Hot Spots-Russia, FREE TO VIEW

The Council of the European Union has sanctioned three named Russians - Nikolay Alexandrovich Korchagin, Vitaly Shevchenko, and Yuriy Fedorovich Denisov, who are all officers of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation (GRU) Unit 29155.

The Council has decided that all three individuals are responsible for cyber attacks against computer systems with the intention of collecting data from the data systems of multiple institutions with an aim to gain insights into the cyber security policy of Estonia.

Together with Allies and partners, including the United States, Ukraine, Germany, Latvia, The Netherlands and the Czech Republic, a technical advisory has been published to warn against the malicious cyber operations of this group.

"The cyber-attacks granted attackers unauthorised access to classified information and sensitive data stored within several government ministries, including Economic Affairs and Communications, Social Affairs, and Foreign Affairs, leading to the theft of thousands of confidential documents," said the EU Council.

The breach included business secrets, health records, and other critical information that compromised the security of the affected institutions.

Unit 29155 was has been previously implicated by the US government and its allies in a string of cyber attacks aimed at government services, financial services, transportation systems, and healthcare and energy sectors of North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) members, the European Union, Central American, and Asian countries.

Since early 2022, the the GRU hacking unit is assessed to have targeted and disrupted efforts to provide aid to Ukraine.

he threat activity cluster is also tracked by the cyber security community under the names Cadet Blizzard, Ember Bear, FROZENVISTA, Nodaria, Ruinous Ursa, UAC-0056, and UNC2589.

And Korchagin and Denisov have also been charged by the US Department of Justice (DoJ) for their alleged involvement in a conspiracy to commit computer intrusion and wire fraud conspiracy against targets in Ukraine, the US and 25 other NATO countries.

With the latest enforcement action, a total of 17 individuals and four entities are subject to asset freezes and travel bans, in addition to prohibiting EU persons and entities from transacting with those listed.

Recently, the Council also sanctioned 16 individuals and three entities, including GRU Unit 29155 and its commander Andrey Vladimirovich Averyanov, that it said were responsible for "Russia's destabilising actions abroad."

"Through coups, assassinations, bombings, and cyber attacks against other countries around the world in connection with the war in Ukraine, it has sought to create chaos and destabilise European Union countries," the Council said. "By carrying out such actions, it seeks to help and benefit Russia."

The Hacker News | Estonia Ministry of Foreign Affairs | Council of the European Union |

EU Neighbours East Security Week | Bleeping Computer | Estonia Ministry for Foreign Affairs

Image: Ideogram

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