We still do not know exactly what the Russians are watching. In this case, they literally watched – it became clear that the Russian secret services joined the cameras guarding the European borders, including the Slovak one.
When the news came out last week that Russian spies were crashed into security cameras placed on the borders of the European Union, it was immediately clear that this must be related to the war in Ukraine.
According to the British daily, Russia has long been attacking camera systems at the EU countries. Target? Disrupt humanitarian and military assistance to Ukraine, at least this was how it looked at first. Slovakia also includes Slovakia.
But it looks like the goal of Russian spies was a little different – it was a simple spy. In other words, the cameras did not want to remove it, but rather use them for watching.
The situation is already being dealt with by the European Union and takes it seriously – to one of the affected countries, namely the Baltic Lithuania, has sent the European Commissioner for the internal affairs of Magnus Brunner.
“However, it was not sabotage, it was spying,” says Jakub Drmola, security expert from the Czech Masaryk University in Brno.
What actually happened?
The Russian Military Intelligence Unit, also known as Fancy Bear (translated by the spectacular bear), has crashed into thousands of security cameras at border crossings, railway stations and military buildings in several European countries. According to British and allied cyber services, the aim was to monitor the movement of aid for Ukraine and try to disrupt its flow.
In Slovakia, less than two percent of a total of 10,000 cameras, about 170 devices, compromised. In Poland it was about four percent.
The attackers also penetrated the city transport cameras, which abused to monitor the movement of convoys and military material aimed at Ukraine. The attacks also included phishing emails and voice fraud, often in the destination country.
Drmola’s safety expert: It was spying
According to Guardian information, this was an attempt to stop the help of Ukraine. But according to our findings and expert on cyber security expert Jakub Drmol from Masaryk University in Brno, it was not a sabotage, but a spy.
“These attacks were not aimed at preventing cameras, but on obtaining information on the transfer of military and humanitarian materials. It was actually a spy, not sabotage,” Drmola says. He adds that cameras are often very weakly secured for low maintenance pressure and therefore represent an easy target for spy operations.
Slovakia thus got directly into the viewfinder of Russian intelligence operations, especially because of its role of transit country in providing help to Ukraine. Experts point out that this is part of a wider campaign, which has been ongoing since 2022 and interveys public and private entities in NATO countries.
The Slovak Information Service (SIS) did not want to comment on the topic specifically: “In the case of activities that endanger the security of the Slovak Republic and its citizens, the Slovak Information Service takes measures in cooperation with other security forces and partner intelligence services at home and abroad, but more detailed information cannot be published due to the existence of a legal obstacle.
The European Commissioner visited Lithuania
The European Union quickly responded to this situation. The internal affairs and migration Commissioner Magnus Brunner was on a two -day visit to Lithuania, where he discussed the EU security and the situation at its eastern border.
Brunner met with Lithuanian President, Prime Minister and Ministers of Interior and Foreign Affairs, as well as members of several parliamentary committees. The main topic of the negotiations was the protection of borders from hybrid threats by Russia and Belarus, including abuse of migration as a tool of pressure.
“We support Lithuania in the fight against the growing external and hybrid threats. And this unity makes Europe a strong and durable,” Brunner wrote on the social network X.
Brunner also visited the Lithuanian border crossing Medininkai, where he became acquainted with the preparations for the introduction of the input/output system. The Union approved its gradual misleading this month. At the same time, the Commission provided Lithuania EUR 15.4 million to strengthen border supervision, modernization of technology and protection from drones.
Lithuania is one of the countries faced with frequent cyber attacks from Russia, especially at the border with Belarus. Moscow, along with Minsk, uses migration as a tool for destabilization in Eastern Europe.
The same Russian unit, which is suspected of the current attack on European cameras, has been accused of leaking data from the World Anti -Doping Agency in the past. At that time, it played a key role in the cyber attack on the National Democratic Party Committee in the US in 2016.
