Intelligence sources say Russia is carrying out dangerous cyberattacks in Spain

They warn that these have been stepped up in recent weeks, since the invasion of Ukraine, and aim to “weaken the country’s political, technological and economic capacity”

Melchor Sáiz-Pardo

Madrid

Wednesday, 9 March 2022, 09:49 | Updated 14:09h.

Spain is suffering cyberattacks, cyber spying operations and disinformation campaigns by State actors on a daily basis to try to destabilise the country and damage its economy, says the National Intelligence Centre (CNI), and for the first time it has indicated that Russia is to ... blame.

Sources close to the secret services say that Spain has been immersed in a “hidden battle” with the Kremlin since long before Russia invaded Ukraine, but the problems have increased in recent weeks.

The CNI warned of the severity of the present situation in one of its most recent reports, saying the country is suffering daily cyber security attacks which are very dangerous or even critical against the public sector and strategic companies. The intelligence services consider these acts as one of the principle dangers facing the country, to the extent that the CNI says the impact could lead to losses of millions of euros by private companies and interfere in the normal functioning of essential public services.

The centre says many of the attacks against Spain and its interests in recent weeks are similar to those carried out by groups such as Cozy Bear and Fancy Bear, which are “associated with the Kremlin’s secret services” or “sponsored by part of the Russian government”.

Now that the EU has vetoed the two media which the Kremlin uses for propaganda purposes, Russia Today and Sputnik, these experts are warning that the cyber attacks against “unfriendly” governments are increasing with the aim of “influencing or altering opinions through information directed at undermining the security and stability of the ecosystems that make up society”.

However, Russia is not alone. Spanish intelligence agencies say other countries are also spying on countries they consider their enemies, including Spain, and use groups with great technical knowhow and with significant financial and material resources, known as Advanced Persistent Threat groups. These “usually intrude into networks and try to remain hidden for as long as possible without being detected, while they extract information which is of interest for different purposes”.

Top 50

Esta funcionalidad es exclusiva para suscriptores.

Reporta un error en esta noticia