Reports: Strong indicators that Russia is behind the hacking of the Attorney General's office
Informed sources told the Dutch newspaper "AD" that there are strong indications that Russia is behind a hacking operation targeting the Public Prosecution Service in the Netherlands (Openbaar Ministerie - OM). The information indicates that the hackers were able to access judicial systems containing criminal files and ongoing police investigations, as well as personal data of employees, for nearly three weeks.
The story began on June 17 when a serious security vulnerability was discovered in a program used by the prosecution and a large number of institutions around the world. The next day, the National Cyber Security Center (NCSC) warned of the possibility of this vulnerability being exploited by hackers, urging immediate updates to the program.
The prosecution closed the vulnerability on June 24, a week after the first warning, but it was too late, as the breach was discovered later after a new warning from the National Cybersecurity Center. On July 17, the prosecution had to completely disconnect its systems from the internet, indicating that the hackers had managed to access its systems during that period.
Cybersecurity experts believe that hacker groups from both Russia and China may have launched attacks on dozens of institutions to test their ability to penetrate them, but sources from the newspaper confirm that the Russian hackers are the ones who actually managed to breach the public prosecutor's system.
Experts consider Russia to be the main suspect in this attack, especially due to its interest in the MH17 case and the ongoing investigations into Russian war crimes in Ukraine, as well as its desire to know who works in the Dutch judiciary. "Bim Takkenberg" from the cybersecurity company "Northwave" pointed out that China often focuses its attacks on stealing intellectual property and technology, which differs from the nature of this attack.