Russian military services reportedly hacked surveillance cameras on Romanian, NATO borders to spy on shipments
According to the British intelligence services, Russian military intelligence services accessed thousands of surveillance cameras in NATO countries like Romania. The cameras, located near border crossing points with Ukraine, allowed them to monitor Western aid shipments.
The GRU, the Russian army’s intelligence service, accessed around 10,000 cameras “located near train stations or military units, to track shipments of materials destined for Ukraine,” according to a note published by the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) and cited by The Guardian.
According to British authorities, 80% of these cameras were on Ukrainian territory, and 10% in Romania. Another 4% of the cameras targeted by the Russians were located in Poland, 2.8% in Hungary, and 1.7% in Slovakia, although exact locations were not made public.
The cyberattacks allowed access to “video captures” from the footage provided by the respective cameras.
The NCSC advisory note also says that “(state) actors also used traffic monitoring cameras belonging to municipal public services” and targeted sensitive information related to shipments, train schedules, and transport documents. Moreover, the hackers attempted “at least once” to use a “voice phishing” method by imitating the voices of IT employees.
This is not the first time that the GRU is reported to be behind cyberattacks on NATO countries. The so-called Unit 26165 sent “phishing” emails containing pornographic content and fake professional information and used stolen passwords to access the targeted computer systems in 2022 as well.
British authorities, in collaboration with special services from the US, Germany, the Czech Republic, Poland, Australia, Canada, Denmark, Estonia, France, and the Netherlands, asked private companies involved in providing aid to Ukraine to enhance their security against attacks like those initiated by GRU intelligence services.
Romania, along with NATO allies, has faced other cyberattacks in the recent period. Earlier this month, the pro-Russian hacker group NoName057 claimed responsibility for the DDoS attack on several official websites belonging to Romanian institutions on Sunday, May 4, the day of the first round of the presidential elections.
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