- Reports suggest Dutch hackers penetrated computers used by Cozy Bear group
- They watched Russians for a year, even managing to catch hackers on camera
- American officials were reportedly so pleased with the findings that they sent cake and flowers in return
Dutch spies secretly broke into computers used by a powerful Russian hacking group and are thought to have found evidence of US election interference.
American officials were reportedly so pleased with the findings that they sent cake and flowers in return.
Reports suggest that hackers working for the Dutch General Intelligence and Security Service penetrated computers used by the Cozy Bear group in mid-2014.
They watched the Russians for at least a year, even managing to catch the hackers on camera.
Reports suggest that hackers working for the Dutch General Intelligence and Security Service penetrated computers used by the Cozy Bear group in mid-2014. The Kremlin in Moscow’s Red Square is pictured (stock photo)
A spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin, pictured, said he had yet to see any official comment from the Dutch intelligence services on the matter
Dutch Interior Minister Kajsa Ollongren declined to comment, saying only that she was ‘very happy that we have good security services in the Netherlands that do their work well’.
President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said he had yet to see any official comment from the Dutch intelligence services on the matter.
He added: ‘If the Dutch media want to fuel anti-Russian hysteria in the U.S., it’s an activity that can’t be called honorable.’
It is thought that the Dutch spies used their access to help oust Cozy Bear from U.S. State Department computers in late 2014.
American officials were reportedly so pleased with the findings of the Dutch spies that they sent cake and flowers in return. Capitol Hill in the US is pictured (stock photo)
The news drew has rocked Washington, where the hacking group has been identified as one of two Russian government-linked organisations that interfered in the 2016 presidential election.
Unmasking the Cozy Bear hackers would provide key evidence for investigators trying to unravel the data breach of the Democratic National Committee, but it may not dispel the mystery surrounding the leaks that followed.
A recent investigation found that all but one of the two dozen or so officials whose emails were published in the run-up to the 2016 election were targeted by another group nicknamed Fancy Bear, which cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike said operated independently from Cozy Bear.
The Kremlin has denied meddling in the US presidential vote.