Russian intelligence operatives have been engaged in a widespread cyber espionage campaign in Georgia, gathering sensitive information about the Georgian government and various large companies over a span of several years.

According to a report from Bloomberg, based on intelligence documents and sources among Western officials, the Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces (GRU) and the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation (FSB) managed to breach the internal systems of multiple government agencies and major corporations between 2017 and 2020.

The article reveals that leading up to the 2020 parliamentary elections, the GRU targeted the Central Election Commission of Georgia, prominent Georgian media outlets such as Imedi and Maestro, as well as IT systems belonging to the national railway company. Additionally, hackers linked to the FSB carried out a clandestine operation within the Georgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs to infiltrate the email accounts of Georgian officials and extract data from Georgian embassies worldwide.

Attributed to a Russian group known as Turla, the hackers attempted to access the information of seven Georgian officials, including the deputy foreign minister and the Georgian ambassadors to the United States and the EU from April 2020 to January 2021. Furthermore, private entities were not spared from the cyber intrusions, as Russian hackers targeted the email accounts of Telasi employees, a key electricity distribution company in Tbilisi, during late 2019 and early 2020.

Another hacker collective managed to compromise the networks of various Georgian power supply companies, presenting the capability to disrupt electricity supply by shutting down electrical substations in certain regions of the country, with the GRU suspected of orchestrating this cyber operation. The Russian Federation exploited vulnerabilities in the network of the Batumi oil terminal and two other oil refineries, gained unauthorized access to the National Bank of Georgia employee emails in 2019-2020, and infiltrated the system of the telecommunications operator Skytel.

Despite reports of Western countries notifying Georgia about some of these cyberattacks, it remains unclear whether any retaliatory actions have been taken by the Georgian authorities. The publication also notes that Georgia’s ruling party, the Georgian Dream, has adopted a noticeably pro-Russian stance leading up to the parliamentary elections scheduled for October 26, 2024.

This series of cyber intrusions orchestrated by Russian intelligence agencies highlights the ongoing threat posed by state-sponsored cyber espionage and the urgent need for enhanced cybersecurity measures to safeguard critical infrastructure and sensitive data against such malicious activities. The incident serves as a sobering reminder of the pervasive nature of cyber threats in the digital age and the imperative for international cooperation to combat cybercrime effectively.

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