British Ministry of Defense outlines actions of Russian military intelligence in cyberspace

In a new intelligence review on the Russian-Ukrainian war, the British Ministry of Defence described the cyber activities of the Russian military intelligence unit 29155.

The ministry recalled that on September 5, the UK National Cyber Security Centre publicly stated that the Russian military intelligence unit 29155 has been responsible for a number of cyber operations around the world since 2020.

At least some of the group’s cyber operations were almost certainly aimed at supporting Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

In 2022, operations involved the use of the devastating WhisperGate malware against Ukrainian targets. Other activities included website damage and network scanning for espionage purposes. 

Previously, WhisperGate was attributed to the Russian state; this new report specifically links the attack to Unit 29155.

Unit 29155 is believed to be responsible for coup attempts, sabotage and influence operations, and assassination attempts across Europe. Thus, offensive cyber operations mark an evolution in the capabilities of Unit 29155. 

This once again emphasises the importance that the Russian state attaches to cyberspace in the context of its invasion of Ukraine.

The German intelligence service BfV issued a warning on Monday that a group of cybercriminals belonging to the Russian military intelligence unit 29155 was behind a series of online attacks against NATO and EU countries.

Earlier, the Estonian Security Police issued a similar warning about the activities of Unit 29155.