Germany intelligence agency warns of Russian APT28 cyber spying

A hooded man holds a laptop computer as cyber code is projected on him in this illustration picture taken on May 13, 2017. (REUTERS)
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  • The group attacked several thousand routers globally, the BfV said, ‌including around 30 vulnerable devices in Germany

BERLIN: Germany’s domestic intelligence agency warned on Tuesday ​of cyberattacks by the Russian state-linked hacker group APT28, saying it had compromised vulnerable TP-Link Internet routers to spy on military, government and ‌critical infrastructure ‌targets.
The ​Federal ‌Office ⁠for ​the Protection of ⁠the Constitution (BfV) said the warning was issued with partners including Germany’s foreign intelligence agency, BND, and the ⁠US FBI. APT28, also ‌known ‌as “Fancy Bear,” is ​attributed by ‌Western governments to Russia’s ‌military intelligence service, the GRU.
The group attacked several thousand routers globally, the BfV said, ‌including around 30 vulnerable devices in Germany.
In ⁠some ⁠cases, compromise was confirmed, prompting operators to replace affected routers. APT28 previously carried out cyberattacks on Germany’s parliament, the center-left SPD political party and air traffic control authorities, the BfV ​said.