Russia active to interfere with the elections in Germany: German intelligence at work to prevent hybrid attacks
The Bavarian State Office for the Protection of the Constitution (LFV) warns that in the elections in 2017 (parliamentary elections of 24 September 2017) and 2018 (state election in Bavaria in autumn 2018) it strengthened the websites of parties, factions , parliamentarians and candidates in Bavaria who are in the crosshairs of the Cyber Attacks. The attacks can come from two extremist groups spreading their message through hacked websites, as well as foreign intelligence services that want to directly influence public opinion.
The German intelligence organization, the BfV, has been actively involved in preventing cyber attacks from sparking in Germany in anticipation of the political elections scheduled for next September 24.
The German government, in order to increase the Cyber resilience of the structures, had already foreseen a substantial increase in financial resources to be dedicated to the threat since 2014. Through the site dedicated to the protection of the German economy, the https://www.wirtschaftsschutz.info, the BfV internal intelligence agency, today provides information on cyber attacks on institutions, critical infrastructures, and large companies.
Working with the German BND Agency, Intelligence Responsible for Foreign Countries, 15 Last September, a hacker attack was blocked at the Lazarus Group from North Korea, The report submitted by the two agencies last June, he mentioned the new capabilities developed by the malware APT30 or Fancy Bear for attacking mobile phones by the hackers team working for the Russian Intelligence Agency (GRU).
The same hackers have been held responsible for the destabilization of the recent US elections in 2016, but since 2015 they continued to attack Angela Merkel's "Christian Democratic Union" (CDU) and German MP party sites.
In the annual report published last July, the BfV Agency clearly states that the Russian infiltration contrast will be among the Top Priorities for the forthcoming elections. BfV in the report reports that there are three target areas by Russian services:
- la before purchasing, concerns initiatives between the European Union and Turkey;
- la second concerns the Common Security and Defense Policy (CSDP) after Brexit;
- la third concerns the attitude of European countries for Russian intervention in Syria.
Other countries monitored by German intelligence in Germany are Iran and China.
For China there is a particular focus on Germany, because they are primarily interested in the acquisition of technology and research and development in the military field. The Chinese recruitment method is mainly based on false promises of well-paid work through the LinkedIn and Facebook network, Beijing trip, informative interview and rejection of the candidate. BfV also reported attacks coming from the Iranian area.
Examples and threat scenarios
Disfigurement
In the case of so-called "site defacements", unauthorized text and graphic content is placed in the display area of third-party websites. Defaces are often used to deposit political messages and defamatory and defamatory content on attacked websites . Such attacks can be caused by extremist organizations and foreign intelligence services. The LfV warns that defacement attacks may increasingly be used as part of cyberpropaganda campaigns during upcoming election campaigns.
Phishing
The term "phishing" means attempts to spy on the logins and passwords of Internet users. To access such confidential data, content management systems are sometimes also manipulated by websites ("CMS"). It is possible to imagine that politically motivated hackers make fake login masks on attack sites, for example on the websites of parties and candidates. Party members may then receive a link to this bogus data entry mask via email, asking them to enter their personal login data, for example to query a member. This could lead the attackers of this data.
Search engine manipulation
Because of their important role in public communication, search engines are good targets for misinformation and manipulation campaigns. Manipulating search results can give false news messages to a wide range of users. Hackers can also distort the titles and pages (snippets) of web pages hacked into search engine lists, trying to discredit political parties, parliamentarians, and candidates. To this end, hacking sites of websites, particularly relevant to search engine lists, change. This results in search results that link the site with fake and misleading headlines and messages.
After Germany, the next elections will be in Italy, our services are already working to stem cyber attacks, but it is necessary to understand that the protection of the country requires consistent planning and substantial financial support.
By Pasquale Preziosa