Report: Dutch spies caught Russian hackers on tape
AMSTERDAM — The Netherlands’ spy service broke into the computers used by a powerful Russian hacking group and may be sitting on evidence relating to the breach of the U.S. Democratic National Committee, a Dutch newspaper and television show jointlyreported Friday.
Reports carried in the respected daily Volkskrant and the current affairs show Nieuwsuur say hackers working for the Dutch General Intelligence and Security Service penetrated the computers used by the group, often nicknamed Cozy Bear, in mid-2014 and watched them for at least a year, even managing to catch the hackers on camera.
Dutch officials declined comment; Interior Minister Kajsa Ollongren, interviewed by reporters in The Hague before the government’s weekly cabinet meeting, said she was “very happy that we have good security services in the Netherlands that do their work well. I can’t say anything about this case that has been published.”
Volkskrant and Nieuwsuur said that the Dutch spies used their access to help oust Cozy Bear from U.S. State Department computers in late 2014. Volkskrant said American spies were so grateful they sent the Dutch cake and flowers.