State-backed hackers targeted EU officials on WhatsApp, document shows
Cyber spies use custom lures to hack "high-ranking officials," EU's internal cyber unit warns.
Foreign governments, including Russia, have been attempting to infiltrate the messaging accounts of prominent European Union officials, according to an internal document from the bloc's cyber defense unit. This revelation, first reported by POLITICO, comes from a presentation given to EU national government officials in July. The document highlights account takeover targeting high-ranking officials as one of the top threats facing the EU this year.
The presentation marks the first formal acknowledgment by EU authorities of cyberattacks on officials via messaging apps, following warnings from several national cyber agencies earlier this year. The targeting is described as "state-sponsored spearphishing," a form of cyber intrusion involving social engineering techniques to manipulate individuals into clicking on malicious links or opening harmful attachments.
The hackers allegedly used personalized messages to trick EU officials, making the attacks more likely to succeed. Earlier this year, POLITICO had reported that the European Commission advised some senior officials to deactivate a Signal group due to hacking concerns, coinciding with warnings from national cyber and intelligence agencies about hacking campaigns on Signal and WhatsApp.
In March, Dutch intelligence services specifically attributed the threat to Russia, while Germany cautioned about hackers targeting high-ranking individuals in politics, military, and diplomacy, as well as journalists. EU cybersecurity officials noted in the presentation that the EU institutions faced eight "significant incidents" this year. They emphasized the challenge of using different cybersecurity solutions across the various institutions, lacking a unified system for sharing sensitive and classified documents.
However, the European Commission declined to provide further details on internal security practices when approached by POLITICO for clarification. WhatsApp and Signal did not comment on the matter at the time of publication.
Written by urgent.news from Politico EU's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
