2013 data break-in at Finnish Foreign Ministry comes from Russia: report

The massive intelligence break-in targeting the Finnish Foreign Ministry earlier this decade has been traced back to Russia, Finnish national broadcaster Yle claimed on Wednesday.

Yle said the attack was carried out by Russian internet surveillance group Turla.

Yle said on Wednesday it had its own sources "both in Finland" and abroad, but did not mention them.

Yle quoted Russian data safety company Kaspersky though assessing Turla. Kaspersky told Yle that Turla had hit hundreds of targets in almost 50 countries.

Yle said that Turla has channeled stolen data to be transferred via communication satellites and thus has been able to destroy any traces it may have left. In the Finnish operation it had used faked emails and malware embedded in internet sites.

Talking to Yle, the data management director of the Finnish Foreign Ministry Ari Uusikartano underlined that the attack targeting the ministry was part of a wide series of attacks against numerous state objects.

The data break-in at the Finnish Foreign Ministry was uncovered in early 2013, and it was not until October 2013 that the Finnish Commercial Television MTV3 News reported it. When found out, the operation had apparently been continuing for years.

The report can not be confirmed and there is no comments available from the Russian side at present. Endit