(Bloomberg) -- Russian spies were watching Georgia’s government and major companies in a comprehensive espionage and hacking campaign over years, scooping up...
-- Russian spies were watching Georgia’s government and major companies in a comprehensive espionage and hacking campaign over years, scooping up information and gaining powers to potentially sabotage critical infrastructure.The Foreign Ministry , Finance Ministry , central bank and key energy and telecommunications providers were penetrated, according to documents and technical reports seen by Bloomberg News .
Georgia faces crucial parliamentary elections that may decide whether it continues efforts to integrate with the West or pivots back toward Moscow. The contest is pitching the ruling Georgian Dream party of billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili against opponents who say the nation is turning its back on US and European allies to side with Putin’s regime.
Brussels responded by halting EU membership negotiations with Georgia, while Washington imposed visa restrictions on more than 60 Georgians for “undermining democracy.” The GRU hacked Georgia’s Central Election Commission, likely gaining access to some email accounts, and several media organizations including Imedi and Maestro, two of the most popular TV channels. It also gained access to multiple IT systems at Georgia’s national railway company for more than two years, according to the documents.
Georgian authorities were informed by western counterparts about some Russian hacking attacks. But it’s unclear if they took any action, the European government officials said. By late 2019 and early into the following year, Russian hackers were reading emails of employees at Telasi, the electricity distribution company in Tbilisi, and watching them through internal cameras as they worked. Other hackers targeted a different, state-owned, energy grid company, gaining the ability to turn off electrical substations and cut power in some Georgian regions had they decided to, the documents show.
Officials at Batumi Oil Terminal didn’t respond to a request to comment. The terminal on the Black Sea coast ships crude and oil products from Georgia as well as neighboring Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan in central Asia. Hackers also compromised telecommunications operator Skytel, where they likely gained access to administrator systems, network routers and other critical systems. The intruders were “possibly” in a position to shut down all the provider’s telecommunications as well as sub-providers on Skytel’s network, one of the documents said.
In May 2023, the Justice Department and the FBI said they had dealt a major blow to Turla by uncovering and dismantling a network of computers the group was using in the US and other countries to launder stolen data.
Finance Ministry Bloomberg News Russian Spies Russia Tbilisi Government Departments Central Election Commission Bidzina Ivanishvili Bloomberg Government Officials
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