Russian hackers trying to disrupt Western military aid to Ukraine, MIVD warns

The Dutch military intelligence service MIVD warns that hackers from the Russian military secreter service GRU are trying to gain insight into and prevent Western aid to Ukraine. The operations of the GRU unit 29155 are mainly aimed at governments and vital infrastructure. Together with the United States and intelligence services from other countries, the MIVD is sending out a warning with advice on how countries can deal with this.

MIVD director Peter Reesink said that the Netherlands has not yet been a target of the hacker group. “They are targeting the logistics sectors in countries that provide aid to Ukraine or play a role in it. And the Netherlands is an important transit country,” he said.

It is not often that the MIVD makes the information it has gathered public. Defense Minister Ruben Brekelmans hopes that countries can better arm themselves against “these far-reaching attacks and espionage” by sharing how they operate. “Not only governments but also manufacturers and suppliers of military equipment for Ukraine.”

According to Western intelligence services, GRU unit 29155 is trying to gain insight into military movements and arms deliveries to Ukraine. Several countries have linked the group to the poisoning of Sergei Skripal in 2018, a former GRU officer.

The US Department of Justice says in a statement that it has filed charges against six hackers. Five of them allegedly worked for the GRU unit, a sixth was a civilian. They are said to have tried to break into computers used by the Ukrainian government in the run-up to the invasion of Ukraine. They also allegedly tried to crack various systems later.

According to the Americans, the hackers attempted to attack systems in 26 NATO countries, including the US, with their operation WhisperGate. WhisperGate is the name of the software they used for this.

The US said that services from ten countries collaborated in the counter-operation Toy Soldier. It also involves services from Australia, Canada, Germany, Estonia, Latvia, Ukraine, the Czech Republic, and the United Kingdom. Estonia reports that it has identified three GRU officers as suspects.