On the first day of the European elections, a pro-Kremlin hacker group launched a series of cyber-attacks targeting Dutch political parties and EU institutions.
Targeted Parties: The websites of three Dutch political parties – the Christian Democratic Alliance (CDA), the Party for Freedom (PVV), and the Forum for Democracy (FvD) – were attacked on Thursday.
Hacker Group: HackNeT, a group linked to Moscow, claimed responsibility for the attacks on its Telegram channel. They also targeted the Dutch Reformed Political Party (SGP) and the European Court of Auditors (ECA).
Impact: The European Court of Auditors’ website was down on Thursday afternoon due to a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack. The court confirmed the attack and stated efforts were underway to mitigate the issue.
Party Responses:
- The CDA, part of the center-right European People’s Party (EPP), reported its website was temporarily inaccessible due to a “serious” DDoS attack.
- Thierry Baudet, leader of the hard-right FvD, announced on social media that his party’s website was down and suggested Russian involvement.
- The PVV, led by Geert Wilders, also experienced website outages.
EU Concerns: The European Union expressed concerns about the vulnerability of the elections to foreign interference. EU officials highlighted the critical nature of the 72 hours leading up to the vote and had mobilized rapid alert teams to respond to threats, including cyber-attacks and disinformation campaigns.
Disinformation Campaigns: In several EU countries, including Italy, Spain, Germany, and Poland, efforts to spread disinformation and dissuade voters had been detected in the days leading up to the election.
HackNeT, which is believed to work with Russian intelligence, announced its intent to disrupt the “internet infrastructure of Europe” as voting began for the European Parliament elections.
