Russia-linked hackers breach Greek military email accounts, target NATO officials

The compromised inboxes reportedly included those of Greek defense attachés in India and Bosnia, as well as the public email account of the Joint Armed Forces Mental Health Center.

The data was accidentally exposed online by the attackers and later identified by the Ctrl-Alt-Intel cyber threat research group, which first reported the incident in a blog post.

The Hellenic National Defense General Staff did not respond to detailed questions about the breach, Reuters reported.

According to the same dataset, the hacking campaign also targeted more than 170 email accounts belonging to Ukrainian prosecutors and investigators over recent months. The activity is believed to be part of a broader espionage effort tracking officials involved in anti-corruption and anti-collaboration cases.

Cybersecurity researchers said the exposure provided rare insight into the operation. Ctrl-Alt-Intel described it as a “major operational mistake,” adding that the attackers “left their front door wide open.”

Researchers from ESET and Trend Micro (TrendAI) who reviewed the findings said the activity was consistent with a Russia-aligned cyber espionage campaign, though attribution to specific groups such as “Fancy Bear” remains disputed.

The Russian government has repeatedly denied involvement in hacking operations against foreign states.

The dataset also suggests broader targeting across NATO countries and the Balkans, including Romanian Air Force email accounts and officials in Bulgaria and Serbia. National authorities in those countries did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Source:Kathimerini