Finland says APT31 group likely behind 2020 parliament hacking attack
- The Finnish intelligence service said the espionage operation was carried out ‘with the aim of intruding into parliament’s IT systems’
- Cybergroup APT31 has been generally linked to the Chinese government
Finland’s domestic security agency on Thursday said that the cybergroup APT31, which is generally linked to the Chinese government, was likely behind a cyberspying attack on the information systems of the Nordic country’s parliament.
The Finnish Security and Intelligence Service, known by the abbreviation Supo, said it had “identified a cyber espionage operation targeted in 2020 against parliament with the aim of intruding into parliament’s IT systems”.
The agency added that “according to Supo intelligence, APT31 was responsible for the attack”. It did not mention China by name or the group’s alleged links to the government in Beijing.
Finland’s National Bureau of Investigation, NBI, said late in December that it had started an investigation into suspected gross hacking and espionage attacks on the information systems of Eduskunta, the Finnish legislature. Among other things, some lawmakers’ email accounts were compromised.
Parliament has since upgraded the systems’ security features.
NBI’s Tero Muurman, who is in charge of the investigation, said on Thursday that his agency was probing further Supo’s allegation of APT31′s involvement.
He said the breach likely aimed to “acquire information for the benefit of a foreign nation or to harm Finland”.