Finland is also the target of Russian cyber attacks – the EU imposes sanctions

European Union informs about the numerous cyber attacks against its member countries. The EU blames Russia for the attacks. The EU mentions Finland as one of the countries targeted by a cyber attack.

The EU identifies the 16th center of the Russian intelligence service FSB as a major source of attacks threatening cyber security. The attacks have targeted critical infrastructure and, for example, administrative systems, and have been long-lasting. It is said that France has been subject to cyber attacks since 2010.

In addition to Finland, the EU member states that have been targeted by Russian cyberattacks have been France, Germany, Poland, Cyprus, the Netherlands, Austria, Slovakia and Romania. In addition, among the EU’s allies, Ukraine is separately mentioned.

The EU’s statement does not say in more detail what kind of attacks have been carried out on Finland.

The National Security Police, the Finnish military intelligence and their international partners issued a warning earlier on Monday about Russian cyber activity targeting poorly protected devices.

According to Supo, the Russian intelligence service FSB targets especially critical infrastructure, such as the defense industry and the energy sector. Russian actors select targets based on what they can penetrate.

Supo has previously issued public warnings about the protection of routers used by ordinary citizens, but the warning issued on Monday mainly concerns business-level network equipment.

Finnish intelligence authorities urge companies and organizations in particular to use SNMP version 3, to use strong passwords, to disable the Cisco Smart Install feature and to limit management connections of network edge devices from the Internet.

Sanctions in return

The EU responds to Russian cyberattacks by imposing sanctions on nine individuals and four companies.

The sanctions concern, among other things, officers of the Russian military intelligence GRU, as well as cybercriminals, self-proclaimed hackers and private companies that “contribute to Russia’s efforts to destabilize the EU, its member states and international partners,” the EU’s statement reads.

According to the statement, the EU also intends to intensify its cooperation in cyber security with international allies, including NATO.