Watchdogs warn of int’l cyber attack

German military can use ‘offensive measures’: minister

STOCKHOLM, April 5, (Agencies): A large-scale cyber attack from a group targeting organisations in Japan, the United States, Sweden and many other European countries through IT services providers has been uncovered, the Swedish computer security watchdog said on Wednesday.

The cyber attack, uncovered through a collaboration by Britain’s National Cyber Security Centre, PwC and cyber security firm BAE Systems, targeted managed service providers to gain access to their customers’ internal networks since at least May 2016 and potentially as early as 2014.

The exact scale of the attack, named Cloud Hopper from an organisation called APT10, is not known but is believed to involve huge amounts of data, Sweden’s Civil Contingencies Agency said in a statement. The agency did not say whether the cyber attacks were still happening.

“The high level of digitalization in Sweden, along with the amount of services outsourced to managed service providers, means that there is great risk that several Swedish organizations are affected by the attacks,” the watchdog said.

The agency said those behind the attacks had used significant resources to identify their targets and sent sophisticated phishing e-mails to infect computers.

It also said Swedish IP addresses had been used to coordinate the incursions and retrieve stolen data and that APT10 specifically targeted IT, communications, healthcare, energy and research sectors.

The German military has the authority to respond with “offensive measures” if its computer networks are attacked, German Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen said on Wednesday, amid growing concerns among German lawmakers about control of such actions.

Von der Leyen, speaking at the opening ceremony for Germany’s new cyber command in Bonn, gave no details of what kind of retaliation she had in mind.

“If the German military’s networks are attacked, then we can defend ourselves. As soon as an attack endangers the functional and operational readiness of combat forces, we can respond with offensive measures,” she said.

She added that the German military could be called in to help in the event of cyber attacks on other governmental institutions. During foreign missions, its actions would be governed and bounded by the underlying parliamentary mandate.

Any legal questions would be addressed by the military in close cooperation with other government agencies, she added.

The new Bonn-based command has an initial staff of 260 that will grow to around 13,500 in July.

Von der Leyen’s decision to sanction offensive cyber actions in principle has caused some concerns among German lawmakers, including Agnieszka Brugger, a member of the pro-environment Greens and member of the defence committee.

Military ombudsman Hans-Peter Bartels, who fields complaints from soldiers for parliament, told the Neue Osnabrueckner Zeitung newspaper on Wednesday that every offensive measure required explicit approval by the parliament since Germany’s military is a so-called “parliamentary army”.

German officials told reporters earlier this week that the government was scrambling to respond to serious and growing cyber threats, but civilian officials said they lacked the legal framework to retaliate with cyber attacks of their own.

However, von der Leyen made clear on Wednesday that she was convinced the authorities were clear in the military realm.

Deputy Defence Minister Katrin Suder told reporters on Monday that existing laws applied, even in cyberspace.

A Russian man who faces charges in the United States of hacking and stealing information from computers at LinkedIn, Dropbox and other San Francisco Bay Area companies can be extradited either to the United States or Russia, the state prosecution in Prague said on Wednesday.

Yevgeniy Nikulin, who remained in detention, was arrested in Prague on Oct 5 after Interpol issued an international warrant. Czech officers cooperated with the Federal Bureau of Investigation in the case.

Moscow wants him extradited on a separate charge of internet theft in 2009.

Spokeswoman Stepanka Zenklova said the Czech prosecution established that both extradition requests are acceptable and Prague’s Municipal Court will decide.

A date for an extradition hearing has not been set, but court spokeswoman Marketa Puci said it’s a question of days or a week.

Justice Minister Robert Pelikan will have the final say.