Russian hackers infiltrate Dutch government agencies ahead of elections

AFP reported on February 4 that Russian hackers accused of trying to interfere in the US presidential election in November 2016 tried to infiltrate Dutch ministries through a series of cyber attacks.

The move comes as the Netherlands holds elections next month.

According to the Volkskrant daily, two Russian organizations were behind efforts to steal information from Dutch government employees, including the Prime Minister's Office.

Citing security experts, the newspaper said the two groups, APT29 and APT28, are being accused by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the US Department of Homeland Security of being behind “malicious computer activity” targeting US government agencies.

However, the plot to cyberattack the Prime Minister's office appears to have failed.

Dutch officials announced on February 1 that they would scrap an old computer system for the March 15 general election and count millions of votes by hand, after a report revealed weaknesses in the system./.

According to Vietnam+