Germany detects new cyber attack by Russian hacker group—Spiegel

November 30, 2018 - 9:00 AM
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German Chancellor Angela Merkel
German Chancellor Angela Merkel speaks during the German-Ukrainian Business Forum conference in Berlin, Germany November 29, 2018. (REUTERS/Fabrizio Bensch)

BERLIN — German security officials have detected a fresh cyber attack on the email accounts of German lawmakers, the military and several German embassies by the Russian hacker group Snake, Der Spiegel reported on Thursday.

The news magazine, citing security sources, said the latest cyber attack was detected on Nov. 14 but it was not yet clear if any data had been stolen.

It quoted the BfV domestic intelligence agency as saying: “The BfV, in the framework of investigating the cyber campaign ‘Snake’, has detected new attacks. The victims are primarily in the government and political realm.”

No comment was immediately available from the agency.

In April, BfV said there was a “high likelihood” that the Russian government was behind a cyber attack on German computer networks that was discovered in December 2017 that was also linked to the hacker group Snake.

German officials have also said Russia was behind an earlier cyber attack on the German lower house of parliament in 2015.

Russia has repeatedly denied that it is involved in cyber attacks on German institutions. —Reporting by Andrea Shalal Editing by Sonya Hepinstall