Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/829797
maltatoday, TUESDAY, 30 MAY 2017 News 8 MITA under attack – but what A British newspaper claims that the Maltese government's information technology agency has come under cyber attack by a Russian group often linked to the Russian government and military PAUL COCKS THE British newspaper The Observer reported last week that it had seen a confidential external risk assessment from the Maltese government's in- formation technology agency (MITA), claiming that the Fancy Bear – a hacking col- lective that is often associated with the Kremlin – carried out attacks on government servers. A source who spoke to the newspaper claimed the at- tacks had increased ahead of June's general election. "In the last two quarters of last year and the first part of this year, attacks on our servers have in- creased," the source said. The news report came days after Prime Minister Joseph Muscat confirmed that he had received information from two foreign intelligence agencies that Malta would become a target for a Russian disinformation campaign. "We had been warned that we could be targeted and, after the allegations were made, two allied govern- ments approached us to say that they had serious suspi- cion that this could be part of a manoeuvre." The Nationalist Party has described the claims as ri- diculous. When contacted, a MITA spokesman said the agency did not intend to release any statements or comments, citing national security. But who are the Fancy Bear and what are they up to? The Fancy Bears have been associated with the Russian military intelligence agency GRU by the cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike, while se- curity firms SecureWorks, ThreatConnect, and Fire- eye's Mandiant have also said the group is sponsored by the Russian government. Crowdstrike's co-founder, Dmitri Alperovitch, has written a blog which says the group is also known as Sofacy or APT 28. He says their style "closely mirrors the strategic interests of the Russian government". There is no mention on the Fancy Bears website about their location but many of the comments on their early posts are written in Russian – and they are in support of the group. Fancy Bears have alluded to the fact they are linked with Anonymous. Their website says: "We are Anonymous. We are Legion. We do not forgive. We do not forget. Expect us. Anonymous" Despite being one of the most reported-on groups of hackers active on the inter- net today, there is very lit- tle researchers can say with absolute certainty. No one knows, for instance, how many hackers are working regularly within Fancy Bear, or how they organise their hacking squads. They don't know if they are based in one city or scattered in vari- ous locations across Russia. They don't even know what they call themselves. The group is, according to