Russia unleashes huge campaign of cyber attacks on Spain

The Kremlin's most active group of hackers has allegedly sabotaged 72 websites in coordinated offensives against institutions, banks, telecommunication operators and the media

Melchor Sáiz-Pardo

Madrid

Friday, 4 August 2023, 16:29

For almost two weeks Spain has been subjected to an intensive and virulent cyber attack campaign by Russian hackers. Pedro Sánchez's promise on 1 July on his trip to Kyiv in Ukraine, at the beginning of the EU presidency, to support the government of Volodimir Zelensky has unleashed the anger of the Kremlin, which has placed all kinds of Spanish interests at the centre of a sabotage offensive.

Institutions, banks, telecomms, media and tourism companies are being targeted in this unprecedented coordinated campaign against Spain. Since the general election the Russian secret services have allegedly tried to take advantage of the political uncertainty to claim that the country is heading towards a "period of political chaos".

According to a provisional count the state's security services have been the target of at least 72 cyberattacks from July 19 to 30 Spain by the NoName057 collective, one of the most active groups of hackers in the service of the Kremlin, which was formed after the start of the invasion of Ukraine. Before focusing on Spain, NoName057 had been relentlessly targeting Ukrainian, American and other European state and non-state websites.

All cyber attacks on Spanish interests since the beginning of the EU presidency are 'denial of service' attacks, which are usually not particularly serious beyond reputational damage. In fact, the websites are usually operational again on the same day of the attacks.

In Spain the first attacks from 19 July were against the systems of well-known institutions, starting with La Moncloa, the Constitutional Court and the ministries of Justice and Territorial Policy, although there were also military objectives such as the attack on Systems Engineering for the Defence of Spain (Isdefe).

The latest attacks have also included communications on the Telegram channels of NoName057, in which it is claimed that "Pedro is already paying a high price for participating in a power war against Russia".

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