Russian intelligence hackers caught collecting information on Ukraine aid in the Netherlands

A hacker group that was collecting information about the purchase and production of military equipment, as well as about arms supplies to Ukraine, was exposed in the Netherlands.

This was reported by Dutch intelligence, according to the Dutch Ministry of Defense.

According to intelligence services, this group is behind a series of attacks carried out in 2023, including on the Dutch police network, NATO infrastructure, and several government and private organizations in European countries.

Laundry Bear is likely operating under the direction or with the support of the Russian state, according to a joint letter from the Dutch General Intelligence and Security Service and Military Intelligence and Security Service to parliament.

“Cyberattacks on Dutch institutions are part of a broader international cyber threat posed by a hacker group,” said an official statement summarizing the results of an investigation into a series of incidents.

Laundry Bear’s criminal activities went unnoticed until September 2024, when intelligence services discovered that the Dutch police’s information systems had been successfully hacked, giving hackers access to confidential data belonging to officials.

It is also reported that Laundry Bear carried out cyber espionage against high-tech companies whose products are strategically important but unavailable to Russia due to sanctions imposed by the West in response to its aggression against Ukraine.

“The investigation has shown that the Laundry Bear group has been carrying out cyberattacks against Western governments and other institutions since at least 2024,” the statement added.

The attackers focused on trying to get data related to the purchase and production of military equipment, as well as the logistics of supplying weapons to Ukraine.

The most notorious pro-Russian hacker group remains APT28, also known as Fancy Bear — or the 85th Main Special Services Center of the GRU, a military intelligence unit of the Russian Federation with the designation 26165.

According to the US government, this group consists of career officers of Russian military intelligence based in Moscow.

Fancy Bear hackers are accused of hacking the servers of the US Democratic National Committee, Hillary Clinton’s email, cyberattacks on the Bundestag and the Social Democratic Party of Germany, the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, and other Western institutions.

Last year, the hacker group Head Mare posted internal documents of the Russian NGO High Precision Systems and Technologies online.