ALARMING

OSCE Suffered ‘Major’ Cyberattack Before U.S. Election

Russian group thought to be involved in the November breach.

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe suffered a “major” cyberattack ahead of U.S. elections in November that one intelligence agency believes Russian hackers were responsible for. A spokeswoman for the OSCE told RFE/RL on Wednesday that the “major information-security incident” compromised “the confidentiality” of the Vienna-based organization’s network but did not disrupt operations. More alarming, however, is the group that is suspected of involvement in the cyberattack. The French daily Le Monde cited an unnamed Western intelligence agency as saying the Russian hacker group APT28 is thought to be the culprit—the same hackers blamed for the attacks on the Democratic National Committee. OSCE spokeswoman Ursula Froese said it was “not possible to determine with certainty the identity of the attackers” and declined to comment on whether or not Russian hackers were involved. No further details were released on what the hackers’ motive may have been, but the OSCE deployed observers to monitor the U.S. presidential election around the time of the hack.