Russian President Vladimir Putin salutes officers 18 February, 2004 shortly after his arrival at the observation point of the Artic cosmodrome in Plesetsk, where he came to watch the launch of spacecraft Molnia, carrying a military spy satelite on board.
Russian online espionage threats against Finland are getting worse. This is what Supo-the Finnish security and intelligence service-revealed.
Aside from spying attempts, Supo officials also claim that cyberattacks and disinformation spread by Russia in the European country are increasing.
Russian Online Espionage Threats Against Finland Worsens
According to The Guardian's latest report, Supo announced that the most active perpetrators of intelligence operations that are targeting Finland are from Russia.
The Finnish intelligence agency said that Russian spying attempts drastically increased ever since Finland became a member of NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization), which happened in Apr. 4.
Finland also claims that the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war is also encouraging Russia to further spy on the Finnish nation.
"Russia's espionage attempts towards us have increased during the war, mainly in the cybersphere," said Supo senior analyst Suvi Alvari.
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Russia Changing Espionage Tactics
Details of the decor of the "Intelligence" spy themed bar near the famous KGB and current FSB building on Lubyanka square are seen in Moscow on March 15, 2018. Britain and its allies France, Germany and the United States have pointed the finger at Moscow over the nerve agent poisoning of former double agent Sergei Skripal.
Supo authorities explained that ever since the Finnish government expelled nine individuals from the Russian embassy due to alleged espionage activities, the Russian spies have transitioned to online spying techniques.
"We see that Russia has increased motivation for intelligence towards us," said Alvari.
She added that they are seeing obvious signs that Russia has the ability in the cyber sphere. Due to this issue, Alvari promised that Finland would be more than prepared against Russian espionage attacks.
The senior Supo analyst expects that the Russian government will continue using the denial of service attacks method.
To give you an idea, this espionage tactic is when hackers disrupt the access to information systems, devices, and other essential resources needed by citizens to acquire information.
Alvari explained that Russia is relying on denial of service espionage attacks to make it look like that services are just malfunctioning.
She added that since Russian spies are now more careful to avoid getting caught, they will likely avoid physically attacking the critical infrastructure of Finland.
Aside from Finland, CNN Politics recently reported that Russian spies in the United States are also increasing in numbers. FBI Director Christopher Wray warned that Russian espionage attempts are "still way too big" in the U.S.
He claimed that Russia's traditional counterintelligence threats are still expanding, making it common for U.S. government officials to encounter them.
As of press time, Russia, together with China, is still considered among the top countries that rely on spying tactics to have an advantage against their enemies.
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