The 2015 intelligence attacks on the Bundestag (the German Parliament) have been traced back to the Russian state, according to Germany’s chief internal intelligence agency. The German agency specifically has traced the line back to Pawnstorm, an Advanced Persistance Threat (APT) group that allegedly works directly for Russia. The same group has attacked both NATO and the White House within the last year.
Germany is not known to openly accuse other countries of cyber-attacks as whole blatant accusations are rare within the online security community. The claim was initially made by Hans Georg Massen, the director of the BfV (Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz), which oversees German domestic cyber security), who believes that the attacks were carried out in an effort to gather German intelligence. Massen further told press agency AFP that “Russian secret services have also shown a readiness to carry out sabotage.” Though no definitive connection has been proven between Pawnstorm and Russia, the suspicion is that the attacks are related to the German and Russian conflict over Ukraine.