07 December 2023

Russian hacker group is said to have targeted German energy suppliers

According to research by BR and WDR , the Federal Public Prosecutor has issued an arrest warrant against a Russian hacker who was said to have been involved in operations against the networks of energy suppliers. According to this, Pawel A. belongs to a hacker group known as "Berserk Bear", which is said to be behind the Russian secret service FSB. Among other things, the suspect is said to be jointly responsible for a hack on the network of the company Netcom BW in the summer of 2017, a subsidiary of the German energy supplier EnBW.

Years of investigations by the State Criminal Police Office of Baden-Württemberg preceded the identification of Pawel A. In September 2021, the Attorney General in Karlsruhe then obtained an arrest warrant, which has not yet been made public. The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution was also able to at least partially monitor the incoming and outgoing Internet traffic of the hacker group. One of the servers used by the group was located in Germany.