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By SecureWorld News Team
Tue | Jan 30, 2018 | 8:27 AM PST

There are new and intriguing revelations this week about the time Russian hackers got hacked—by another government.

In this case, we learn more about the Dutch Intelligence service AIVD that hacked Russia's famed Cozy Bear hacking group, which has been deemed "APT29" an Advanced Persistent Threat to the West.

The Dutch watched as Cozy Bear planned and executed on two very significant hacks on the U.S. and the Democratic National Committee:

"A hacker from the Dutch intelligence agency AIVD has penetrated the computer network of a university building next to the Red Square in Moscow, oblivious to the implications. One year later, from the AIVD headquarters in Zoetermeer, he and his colleagues witness Russian hackers launching an attack on the Democratic Party in the United States. The AIVD hackers had not infiltrated just any building; they were in the computer network of the infamous Russian hacker group Cozy Bear. And unbeknownst to the Russians, they could see everything," say researchers from de Volkskrant.

Then the Dutch secretly warned the U.S. about that hack, and another one on the U.S. State Department:

"Using so-called command and control servers, digital command centres, the Russians attempt to establish a connection to the malware in the Department, in order to request and transfer information. The Americans, having been told by the Dutch where the servers are, repeatedly and swiftly cut off access to these servers, followed each time by another attempt by the Russians."

The Russians had no idea they were being watched.

And when we say the Dutch Intelligence hackers watched Cozy Bear, we mean that quite literally: the Dutch even took control of a security camera in the hallway outside Cozy Bear's office and grabbed screen shots of those coming and going.

Sometimes that lax IoT security can work in your favor.

For a fascinating video summary of how the Dutch infiltrated the Russian hackers, you should watch this 2-minute video from Dutch media outlets de Volkskrant and Nieuwsuur :

Or, if you've got a few minutes and like cyber intrigue, you'll enjoy their complete, in-depth write-up about what the Dutch accomplished and how. Note: The page auto-translates in just a few seconds.

Afterward, you'll know more about Cozy Bear than ever before, thanks to the hackers that got hacked.

Tags: Hackers,
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