THE HAGUE: A beforehand unknown Russian hacking group generally known as “Laundry Bear” was behind assaults final yr on Dutch police, intelligence providers within the Netherlands mentioned Tuesday, with delicate work-related knowledge stolen.The assault final September was a part of a wider marketing campaign by the Russian hackers in opposition to Western and Nato targets, based on an investigation by Dutch safety and intelligence providers AIVD and MIVD.“We have now seen that this hacker group efficiently features entry to delicate info from numerous (authorities) organisations and firms worldwide,” mentioned MIVD director Peter Reesink.“They’ve a particular curiosity in international locations of the European Union and Nato,” he added.Laundry Bear hackers have focused armed forces, governments and defence contractors in addition to IT and repair suppliers in a number of international locations, the Dutch authorities mentioned.They’ve additionally tried to hit Dutch high-tech companies producing methods unavailable in Russia attributable to Western sanctions.The investigation confirmed that Laundry Bear was “extremely most likely a Russian state-supported menace actor”, the businesses mentioned of their assertion.The Dutch authorities additionally determined to reveal the technical strategies the hackers used to infiltrate methods, hoping this might enable for higher defence.“This limits Laundry Bear’s probabilities of success and digital networks may be higher protected,” mentioned AIVD chief Erik Akerboom. “This will increase our nationwide resilience,” he added.
