Proper Gander: EUROPE UNDER SIEGE
This seems to have been delivered by MI6. Also, the one thing not being mentions is "NordStream"
https://thehill.com/opinion/cybersecurity/5646890-moscow-economic-sabotage-europe/
also
https://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/Europe-Under-Siege-as-Moscow-Targets-Critical-Infrastructure.html
"In April 2025, someone remotely seized control of a hydroelectric dam in Bremanger, opened its floodgates, and let millions of cubic meters of water roar downstream for hours."
If you follow the linkchain, you wil find the "hack" was guessing a weak password and an Internet-facing control system (stupid). Must have been Russia.
"Most Europeans still think the war stops at Ukraine’s border. It doesn’t. While Russian artillery pounds Kherson and Kharkiv [?], a parallel, quieter campaign is being fought inside the engine rooms of Europe’s economy. The weapons are not tanks but malware, forged documents, anonymous leaks, shadow tankers and well-timed “grassroots” protests. "
Ah yes, the ominous shadow tankers and grassroots protests.
"The targets are the very things Europe needs to free itself from Russian energy and Chinese raw materials: new liquid natural gas terminals, wind-farm control systems, undersea data cables, rare earth element mines [huh?], and the companies bold enough or foolish enough to build them. The numbers can no longer be ignored. "
What can be ignored is, however, NordStream.
"In 2024 alone, the European Union Agency for Cybersecurity logged more than 11,000 serious cyber incidents across the European Union, with attacks on industrial control systems jumping to nearly 20 percent of the total. The pattern is unmistakable."
If you go to the crayon-style report, including Corporate Memphis figures and stok photos, for deciders [which promotes as solution more "diversity" 😑] you will find those 11K cyber incidents include 41% DOS attacks. But the "20% percent of total" can nowhere be found or concluded.
"When Germany’s Enercon lost remote access to 5,800 wind turbines after the 2022 Viasat hack, it was an early proof of concept."
That was a good hack, apparently:
https://www.technologyreview.com/2022/05/10/1051973/russia-hack-viasat-satellite-ukraine-invasion/
"Since then Vestas, Nordex, French grid operators, and Italian substations have all been hit. In the Netherlands, someone briefly took over port-logistics systems in Rotterdam and Eemshaven — just as new liquid natural gas import facilities came online."
Rather than "took over" we learn through the link that this was another DoS attack. "Reports from Dutch news outlet RTL shed light on the motives behind the cyberattacks. A hacker group self-identified as "NoName057(16)" claimed responsibility, stating that the attacks were in response to the Netherlands' plans to procure Swiss tanks for Ukraine." Less boring, the article has a bit further "In a related cybersecurity news, a major breach targeted the systems of a technology vendor, resulting in the theft of approximately half a million personal health records. The breach affected Fortra, the vendor associated with Intellihartx, and has raised significant concerns about data security." ... it sure does. "The stolen information encompassed a wide range of sensitive data, including patient names, addresses, dates of birth, and Social Security numbers. Such compromised information poses a serious risk to the affected individuals. Moreover, the breach also exposed medical billing, insurance details, confidential diagnoses, and medication records. The gravity of this incident extends beyond Intellihartx, as Fortra's GoAnywhere file-transfer software has become a prime target for cybercriminals." [LOL]
"At sea, the sabotage has moved from plausible deniability to routine. The ruptured Baltic Connector gas pipeline [2023-10-08, no culprit fingered except the Panama-flagged "Polar Bear"] and the severed Estonian data cable in 2024 [2024-12-25, no culprit fingered except the "Eagle S"] both carried the same forensic fingerprints European services have learned to recognize."
What are those fingerprints?
"Meanwhile, Russian “research” ships linger suspiciously close to the arteries that carry 70 percent of Europe’s internet traffic [wow!]. And Moscow’s shadow fleet — comprising hundreds of aging and uninsured tankers [really] — keeps Western sanctions at bay while creating convenient cover for “accidental” anchor-dragging exercises near critical infrastructure."
"On dry land, the Kremlin has turned expropriation into an art form. For example, the Russian subsidiaries of Danone and Carlsberg were simply confiscated [link to BBC] in 2023 and handed to regime-friendly oligarchs. Any Western company trying to leave Russia faces a forced fire-sale at a 50 percent discount, plus a 15 percent “exit tax” that has quietly transferred more than $60 billion into Moscow’s war chest since 2022. As a result of these onerous conditions, more than 11,000 companies — most from Germany and the U.S. — have remained in Russia, where they contribute an estimated $5 billion in taxes to the Kremlin."
Very unfortunate, wouldn't you say.
"The information war runs in parallel, and it is getting surgical. The DoppelGänger network of fake news sites is the blunt instrument; the sharper tool is the anonymous drip of real but carefully edited corporate documents to journalists and activists."
A link is provided to "US Cyber Command", where we read in an article of [2024-09-03]:
> FORT GEORGE G. MEADE, Md. - The European Union’s Disinformation Lab (EU DisinfoLab) has recently exposed a sophisticated Russian influence campaign known as “DoppelGänger.”
No, not the Kaja Kallas / Urusuullaaa duo.
> DoppelGänger’s pro-Russian narratives include:
> "This cross-platform campaign amplifies the deceptive content distributed through its cloned web pages across various social media networks, including Facebook and Twitter. Videos, articles, and polls designed to manipulate public opinion are disseminated seamlessly, blurring the lines between fact and fiction.
> - Depicting Ukraine Negatively: The campaign portrays Ukraine as a failed, corrupt, and Nazi state. [😂]
> - Promoting Kremlin Narratives: It denies the Bucha massacre [😂 Noo!] and spreads Kremlin-approved narratives on the Ukraine war.
> - Fearmongering Across Europe: Germans, Italians, French, Latvians, and British citizens are targeted, warned that sanctions against Russia will ruin their lives. [😂 Noooo!!]"
Back to our article:
"Meanwhile, Russian “research” ships linger suspiciously close to the arteries that carry 70 percent of Europe’s internet traffic. And Moscow’s shadow fleet — comprising hundreds of aging and uninsured tankers — keeps Western sanctions at bay while creating convenient cover for “accidental” anchor-dragging exercises near critical infrastructure."
"One of the most instructive current cases is Norge Mining, a British-Norwegian venture sitting on what may be Europe’s largest undeveloped deposit of phosphate, vanadium and titanium [such cornucopia, wow] — minerals the continent desperately needs for fertilizers, batteries and fighter jets [ah yes, those fighter jets]. Ever since the project moved toward final permits, it has been buried under waves of leaked emails, doctored environmental studies, sudden “whistleblowers,” cyberattacks and remarkably well-funded local opposition."
You mean like NordStream was?
And on and on and on...
"The West needs to get serious about offensive countermeasures — targeted sanctions that actually hurt the specific Russian intelligence units, cut-out companies, and oligarchs who finance and execute these operations."
I guess it's just good that we didn't read about the "Gerasimov Doctrine" yet again.
