London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Oct 02, 2025

EU targets Russian intelligence, Chinese, North Korean companies in first ever cybercrime-related sanctions batch

EU targets Russian intelligence, Chinese, North Korean companies in first ever cybercrime-related sanctions batch

The European Union has imposed sanctions on six people and three entities, including a Russian military intelligence unit over their alleged involvement in various hacking activities, in the first ever such move from Brussels.
EU officials slapped the “Special Technologies” unit (GTsST) of the Russian military intelligence (also known as GRU) with sanctions, accusing it of being behind several high-profile cyber-attacks - including the infamous NotPetya virus that inflicted $10 billion worth of damage to the world economy in 2017.

The origins of that virus are still unclear. Yet, what is known for certain is that it targeted Russian companies just as it did foreign firms. This fact, however, never bothered any western officials blaming the NotPetya attack on Moscow.

Other supposed crimes allegedly committed by Russian intelligence include several attacks targeting Ukraine’s power grid in 2015 and 2016. While various cybersecurity experts confirmed the Ukrainian power grid was indeed targeted in cyberattacks, little is known about their origin. Some US experts, however, blamed them on the usual culprit - Russia - without providing any solid evidence.

The EU also linked the GTsST to the mysterious Sandworm hacking group. No conclusive evidence of the group’s existence has been presented to the public as of yet - though it has also been blamed for various attacks by Western media, including the very same NotPetya virus now used by the EU to impose sanctions on the GRU unit. Sandworm has also been accused of spying on NATO - and one journalist for the Wired tech website even wrote a book on its supposed activities.

The connection between the group and GRU was made by US spy agency NSA in a May press release. The NSA, which itself is infamous for its world-spanning secret surveillance activities, warned that the Sandworm hackers supposedly gained access to mail servers and took control of them. It did not provide any proof to substantiate its claims.

The EU also singled out four people it described as GTsST operatives who Dutch authorities accused of trying to hack into the OPCW wifi network, but were prevented from doing so by local intelligence.

Two Chinese nationals accused of contributing to ‘Operation Cloud Hopper’ - a series of cyberattacks aimed at stealing commercially sensitive data from multinational companies around the world - also made it onto the sanctions list.

Other names on the list include Chinese company Haitai Technology Development and a North Korean firm, Chosun Expo.

Haitai Technology Development is accused of providing “financial, technical or material support” for Operation Cloud Hopper for simply employing the two Chinese individuals included on the sanctions list. Chosun Expo, in turn, was similarly accused of facilitating the WannaCry ransomware attack, which crippled 200,000 computers in 150 countries in 2017.

That attack was attributed to the notorious Lazarus Group – an organization of hackers reportedly active at least since 2009. Although little is known about it, some experts earlier linked it to North Korea. Pyongyang repeatedly denied having anything to do with it.

Brussels has not provided any specific evidence that could prove the guilt of any of the mentioned parties.

According to EU foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, the list of restrictions include travel bans and asset freezes. It is unclear, however, if there are in fact any accounts to freeze in the first place - or whether any of the targeted individuals planned to travel to the EU at all.

Yet, imposing the sanctions - the EU’s first related to cybercrime - seems to be a good PR stunt at the expense of perennial boogeymen Russia, China and North Korea. Indeed, the move drew quick praise from London.

The UK Foreign Office welcomed the sanctions drive and boasted that it was virtually one of the first to identify these “malicious actors” when the EU had not yet made its move. It added that the UK, which has now left the union, was “at the forefront of efforts to establish the EU Cyber Sanctions regime.”
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
FBI Removes Agents Who Kneeled at 2020 Protest, Citing Breach of Professional Conduct
Trump Alleges ‘Triple Sabotage’ at United Nations After Escalator and Teleprompter Failures
Shock in France: 5 Years in Prison for Former President Nicolas Sarkozy
Tokyo’s Jimbōchō Named World’s Coolest Neighbourhood for 2025
European Officials Fear Trump May Shift Blame for Ukraine War onto EU
BNP Paribas Abandons Ban on 'Controversial Weapons' Financing Amid Europe’s Defence Push
Typhoon Ragasa Leaves Trail of Destruction Across East Asia Before Making Landfall in China
The Personality Rights Challenge in India’s AI Era
Big Banks Rebuild in Hong Kong as Deal Volume Surges
Italy Considers Freezing Retirement Age at 67 to Avert Scheduled Hike
Italian City to Impose Tax on Visiting Dogs Starting in 2026
Arnault Denounces Proposed Wealth Tax as Threat to French Economy
Study Finds No Safe Level of Alcohol for Dementia Risk
Denmark Investigates Drone Incursion, Does Not Rule Out Russian Involvement
Lilly CEO Warns UK Is ‘Worst Country in Europe’ for Drug Prices, Pulls Back Investment
Nigel Farage Emerges as Central Force in British Politics with Reform UK Surge
Disney Reinstates ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ after Six-Day Suspension over Charlie Kirk Comments
U.S. Prosecutors Move to Break Up Google’s Advertising Monopoly
Nvidia Pledges Up to $100 Billion Investment in OpenAI to Power Massive AI Data Center Build-Out
U.S. Signals ‘Large and Forceful’ Support for Argentina Amid Market Turmoil
Nvidia and Abu Dhabi’s TII Launch First AI-&-Robotics Lab in the Middle East
Vietnam Faces Up to $25 Billion Export Loss as U.S. Tariffs Bite
Europe Signals Stronger Support for Taiwan at Major Taipei Defence Show
Indonesia Court Upholds Military Law Amid Concerns Over Expanded Civilian Role
Larry Ellison, Michael Dell and Rupert Murdoch Join Trump-Backed Bid to Take Over TikTok
Trump and Musk Reunite Publicly for First Time Since Fallout at Kirk Memorial
Vietnam Closes 86 Million Untouched Bank Accounts Over Biometric ID Rules
×