EU: Russia’s cyber attacks create unacceptable risks of spillover effects

Russia’s aggression against Ukraine has been accompanied by a significant increase in malicious cyber activities, including a striking and concerning number of hackers and hacker groups indiscriminately targeting essential entities globally, EU High Representative Josep Borrell said in a declaration on behalf of the EU, published on 19 July. 

“This increase in malicious cyber activities, in the context of the war against Ukraine, creates unacceptable risks of spillover effects, misinterpretation and possible escalation,” warns Borrell. “In this regard, we recall the EU and its Member States’ strong condemnation of the cyber-attacks against Ukraine on 14 January 2022, and the attribution on 10 May 2022 of the malicious cyber activity targeting the satellite KA-SAT network to the Russian Federation.”

Borrell added that the latest distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks against several EU Member States and partners claimed by pro-Russian hacker groups “are yet another example of the heightened and tense cyber threat landscape that the EU and its Member States have observed”. 

According to the declaration, the EU remains determined to address and investigate these malicious cyber activities.

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