Cyber Espionage Attack Hits European Commission

The European Commission and the European External Action Service (EEAS) were targeted in a major cyber espionage attack while preparing for an important EU summit.

The BBC cites sources saying the attack is bigger than others that usually hit the Commission's infrastructure.

"The Commission and External Advisory Service are subject to a serious cyber attack," Antony Gravili, spokesman for the inter-institutional relations and administration commissioner, confirmed for BBC News.

Gravili said an investigation was launched, but noted that the incident is not unusual and measures have already been taken to block the attack.

Brussels is preparing to host an important two-day summit where the future structure and economic strategy of the European Union will be discussed, as well as the ongoing conflict in Libya.

The upcoming talks present a very good opportunity for intelligence gathering so it's not unexpected that hackers are trying to penetrate the Commission's computer network.

A similar incident occurred before the G20 summit in Paris last month, when over 150 computers from the French finance ministry were compromised in an attempt to steal sensitive documents.

Since the attacks were discovered the passwords used by EU officials and staff were reset and external access to the networks of various institutions was blocked. The Register claims to be in the possession of internal memos suggesting that some computers might have been compromised for months.

"International cyber-espionage and criminal theft of information for commercial advantage has been going on for several years now but only really caught the public imagination with the furore surrounding the Aurora attacks in 2009/2010," says Rik Ferguson, director of security research & communication at Trend Micro.

"Since that time, the mood for public disclosure of these attacks has rapidly changed and may contribute somewhat to the impression that they are increasing in frequency," he explains.