Russian military intelligence hit by first EU cyber crime sanctions

THE European Union has imposed travel and financial sanctions on part of Russia’s military intelligence service and on firms from North Korea and China over suspected participation in major cyber attacks across the world.

In its first ever sanctions related to cyber crime, the EU has targeted the department for special technologies of the Russian military intelligence service, known as the Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, it said in a statement.

The EU accused the Russian service of having carried out two cyber attacks in June 2017, which hit several companies in Europe, resulting in large financial losses.

The service is also accused of two cyber attacks against Ukraine’s power grid in 2015 and 2016.

Four individuals working Russian military intelligence were also sanctioned for allegedly participating in an attempted cyber attack on the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons in the Netherlands in April 2018.

North Korean company Chosun Expo was sanctioned on suspicion of having supported the Lazarus Group, which is deemed responsible for a series of major attacks worldwide.

They included the world’s biggest cyber fraud, an $81 million (£62 million) heist in 2016 against Bangladesh Bank’s account at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. The company is also allegedly linked to an attack against film studio Sony Pictures to prevent the release of a satirical movie about North Korean leader Kim Jongun in 2014.

North Korea has denied any involvement in cyber attacks.

The EU sanctions also hit Chinese firm Haitai Technology Development, which is accused of having supported attacks – known as Operation Cloud Hopper – to steal commercially sensitive data from multinationals across the world.

Two Chinese individuals allegedly involved were also sanctioned.

The sanctions include travel bans and asset freezes. EU individuals, companies and other entities are forbidden from making funds available to those blacklisted.

China’s diplomatic mission to the European Union said in a statement early yesterday that China “is a staunch defender of network security and one of the biggest victims of hacker attacks”.