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Germany: Russia hacked our parliament

A German intelligence agency reportedly said the attack crossed the line from espionage to sabotage.

Laura Hautala Former Senior Writer
Laura wrote about e-commerce and Amazon, and she occasionally covered cool science topics. Previously, she broke down cybersecurity and privacy issues for CNET readers. Laura is based in Tacoma, Washington, and was into sourdough before the pandemic.
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Laura Hautala
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Hans-Georg Maassen, president of Germany's intelligence agency, reported said Russian spies have taken their cyber efforts to a new level.

Sean Gallup, Getty Images

German spies pointing fingers at Russian spies. It might sound like an old story, but it has a modern twist: computer hacking.

A German intelligence agency said Friday it believes Russian operatives were behind a cyberattack that took down the computers of the lower house of the German parliament last year, according to a report from Reuters.

The German agency, the Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz (or the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution), didn't respond to a request for its statement. The agency said a hacking group called "Sofacy," guided by Russian intelligence agencies, were most likely behind the attack, according to Reuters.

Hans-Georg Maassen, president of the German intelligence agency, told Reuters that Russia has long used computers to spy on Germany. "But lately," he added, "Russian intelligence agencies have also shown a willingness to conduct sabotage."