Suspected Russian cyber attack ‘warfare’ against Germany

A SUSPECTED attack by Russian hackers on computer systems used by the German government is still ongoing and may be more serious than at first thought, the country’s MPs warned, comparing the attack to a “form of warfare” against Germany.

Andre Hahn, an opposition member of the influential parliamentary intelligence committee, said that he feared Angela Merkel’s government was trying to downplay the seriousness of the damage.

“I’m worried that a lot more is going to come out in the coming weeks,” he said.

The German government has been tight-lipped about the details of the attack.

The interior ministry has confirmed that hackers managed to access secure government computer systems for more than a year, but there has been no official word on what information was compromised or the identity of those responsible.

Hacking

It has been widely reported in the German press that security officials believe the attack is the work of Fancy Bear, a Russian hacking group thought to have links to Vladimir Putin’s intelligence services.

The parliamentary intelligence committee was briefed on the attack behind closed doors yesterday, but committee members said they were not at liberty to discuss the details.

“It’s still an ongoing attack and public discussions of the details would be a giving the attackers a warning we don’t want to give them,” said Armin Schuster, the head of the committee.