Netherlands foils cyber attack by Russia on anti-chemical weapons body
This came just hours after the UK blamed the Kremlin for a spate of ‘reckless and indiscriminate’ cyber attacks, including during the US presidential campaign
London —Dutch authorities, helped by the UK, foiled a Russian cyber attack on the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) as it probed the alleged use by Kremlin spies of a deadly nerve poison on British soil. Four Russian agents from the GRU military-intelligence agency and carrying diplomatic passports were apprehended and expelled in the hacking attempt, Dutch defence minister Ank Bijleveld said in a briefing in The Hague. In addition to targeted e-mail and online efforts to breach systems, they were caught conducting “close-access attacks” using equipment concealed in the trunk of their rented Citroen to disrupt computer networks at the OPCW, according to UK officials. Coming just hours after the UK blamed the Kremlin for a spate of “reckless and indiscriminate” cyber attacks, including on the Democratic National Committee during the 2016 US presidential campaign, the latest allegations further escalate tensions between Russia and the West. The UK and US have...
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