German intelligence agencies are investigating a suspected Russian cyberattack against the German Association for East European Studies (DGO), a Berlin-based research network specializing in foreign policy and international relations.
Both the Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) and the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) are actively working on the case, which became public in late March when the DGO revealed that hackers had gained access to their email communications.
According to the German newspaper Bild, the attack has been traced to the notorious hacker group APT 29, commonly known as “Cozy Bear,” which has ties to Russian intelligence services.
The same group is reportedly behind recent malware attacks targeting several German political parties.
Security experts grew suspicious after detecting repeated access to the DGO’s mail server from an IP address previously identified in a similar attack last year.
The breach marks another incident in what appears to be a broader campaign against German institutions that Russia has labeled as “undesirable.”
A DGO spokesperson stated that in addition to cyberattacks, some German institutes deemed undesirable by Moscow have experienced stalking of employees and physical break-ins at their Berlin headquarters.
The organization has increased its computer security measures since a previous attack last year, but acknowledged the difficulties small organizations face when confronting state-sponsored hackers.
German security authorities have recently issued warnings to approximately 70 academic institutions about the threat of Russian cyberattacks, signaling growing concern about digital interference from Moscow targeting research and policy organizations across Germany.
