Georgian government institutions hacked by Russia and spied on – Bloomberg

Russian intelligence has been conducting a large-scale cyber espionage campaign in Georgia, collecting information on the Georgian government and large companies for years.

Source: Bloombergʼs article, based on intelligence documents and sources among Western officials, as reported by European Pravda

Details: Bloomberg reports that the Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, also known as the GRU, and the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation gained access to the internal systems of several government agencies and large companies, at least from 2017 to 2020.

The article claims that before the 2020 parliamentary elections, the GRU hacked the Central Election Commission of Georgia, several major Georgian media outlets, including the country's most popular TV channels, Imedi and Maestro, and several IT systems of the Georgian national railway company.

Bloomberg adds that hackers linked to the FSB conducted a covert operation in the Georgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs to access the emails of Georgian officials and collect data stored in Georgian embassies around the world.

According to Bloomberg's sources, these hackers belong to a Russian group known as Turla. From April 2020 to January 2021, they tried to access the data of seven Georgian officials, including the current deputy foreign minister of Georgia and the Georgian ambassadors to the United States and the EU.

Russian hacking activities have also affected private companies, the article says. Russian hackers hacked the emails of employees of the Tbilisi electricity distribution company Telasi in late 2019 and early 2020.

Bloomberg writes that another hacker group gained access to other Georgian power supply companies and could, if necessary, shut down electrical substations and cut off electricity in some regions of the country. The article suggests that the GRU is responsible for the cyberattack.

The Russian Federation was also able to exploit vulnerabilities in the network of the Batumi oil terminal and two other oil refineries; gained access to the mail of the National Bank of Georgia employees in 2019-2020; penetrated the telecommunications operator Skytel system, etc.

Bloomberg's interlocutors claim that the West has informed Georgia about some Russian hacking attacks, but whether it has taken any measures in response is unknown.

Background: Georgia's ruling party, the Georgian Dream, has taken openly pro-Russian steps ahead of the 26 October parliamentary elections.

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