Intelligence services of other states appear to be behind the hacking of Telegram accounts of senior officials and publication of personal conversations. Representatives of the Russian intelligence services are the main suspects, said the director of the Security and Intelligence Service (SIS) Alexandru Musteață. He noted the actions form part of a campaign to increase tensions in the country and to undermine the people’s confidence in state institutions. A criminal case was started over the hacking of Telegram accounts and the SIS offers prosecutors all the necessary support, IPN reports.
Cyber attackers recently hacked the Telegram accounts of President Maia Sandu, Deputy Prime Minister Andrei Spinu, Minister of Justice Sergiu Litvinenco, head of the General Police Inspectorate Viorel Cernăuțeanu and presidential adviser Dorin Recean. The SIS chief said the number of hacked accounts can be larger, but the illegality cannot be detected instantaneously.
“We are investigating different hypotheses. When a large number of accounts are accessed clandestinely in the same period, it can be access from the server. We will send a letter to the company that manages this service. For now, only messages posted on this service were published, not yet data from telephones,” Alexandru Musteață stated in the program “In Depth” on ProTV Chisinau channel.
According to the SIS head, the institution ensures the confidentiality of conversations of government officials only. The private conversations are the responsibility of each citizen.
“When it goes to encrypted communications, there is the so-called governmental telephone line that is protected and secured by the SIS. Most of the senior government officials are connected to this line. When it goes to personal accounts, it is everyone’s responsibility. Cyber hygiene is the responsibility of each citizen. I call on the citizens to be very careful when using devices and applications as personal data needs to be protected,” said the SIS chief.
Alexandru Musteață said the hacking activities are most probably coordinated by foreign intelligence services whose goal is to cause dissension in society and to undermine the citizens’ confidence in the country’s administration.
“The day of those actions was very well chosen. It was the day when the Government approved and remitted a very important document to the Constitutional Court. There are many questions as to the authenticity of information, but the process and the chosen day show the actions were coordinated and the aim was to denigrate. Intelligence services of other states appear to be behind the hacking and those of the Russian Federation are the main suspects,” said the SIS chief.
Minister of Justice Sergiu Litvinenco admitted that following the hacking of his personal Telegram account, fragments of his personal conversations were made public. He said a number of the conversations were truncated and taken out of context. Representatives of the presidential administration noted conversations involving presidential adviser Dorin Recean were fabricated.
