The Swedish government said on Wednesday that a pro-Russian group linked to Russia’s security and intelligence services was behind a cyberattack on a heating plant last year. The announcement came after officials in Poland, Norway, Denmark and Latvia warned that Russia was attacking critical infrastructure across Europe.
Sweden’s Civil Defense Minister Carl-Oskar Bohlin said the attack on a heating plant in western Sweden failed, giving no further details. This was the first public mention of an attack by Sweden.
He compared it to the events that happened in Poland in December, when coordinated cyber attacks Combined heat and power plants that supply heat to about 500,000 customers as well as wind and solar farms were affected. Poland had said that evidence indicated that the hackers were “directly linked to Russian services.”
Bohlin said the cyberattacks in Sweden and Poland targeted systems controlling critical infrastructure, which could have potentially serious consequences for society.
The attacks show that Russia is behaving risky and reckless, he said.
attacks are even more 150 incidents of sabotage and malicious activity Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 has been tracked across Europe by the Associated Press and linked to Russia by Western officials. Officials say the attacks have a target weaken support for UkraineSpreading fear and discord in European societies and depleting investigative resources.
The Kremlin has previously denied carrying out any sabotage campaign across Europe.
Danish officials said in December that Russia would launch cyberattacks on water utilities in 2024 left some homes without waterWhile in August Norwegian police said Pro-Russian hackers remotely open a valve in a damSo that water can come out. In March, Latvia’s State Security Service said that a train and railway infrastructure was Set on fire By people working in the interests of Russia.
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Ciobanu reported from Warsaw, Poland.
