Hackers post fake stories on real news sites 'to discredit Nato'

30 July 2020

Hackers have broken into real news websites and posted fake stories stirring up anti-Nato sentiment, a cyber-security firm has warned.

The disinformation campaign, nicknamed "ghostwriter", has been ongoing since 2017, according to FireEye researchers.

It is designed to "chip away" at support for Nato in Lithuania, Latvia, and Poland, they said.

While the false stories are "aligned with Russian security interests", it is not known who is behind the attack.

The disinformation campaign uses "falsified news articles, quotes, correspondence and other documents designed to appear as coming from military officials and political figures in the target countries," FireEye said.

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Russia-aligned hackers running anti-Nato fake news campaign – report

‘Ghostwriter’ campaign said to involve replacing true stories with false ones on news sites in Poland and Lithuania

Dan Sabbagh Defence and security editor
Published on Thu 30 Jul 2020 16.32 BST

Hackers “aligned with Russian security interests” have been engaged in a sustained campaign to compromise news websites in Poland and Lithuania to plant false stories aimed at discrediting Nato, according to a new report.

Part of the campaign – labelled “Ghostwriter” – involved gaining access to news sites publishing systems, deleting stories and replacing them with false news that sought to delegitimise the transatlantic alliance.

In one example, a Lithuanian news site was compromised last September and a false article was inserted into its archive wrongly claiming that German soldiers serving with Nato had desecrated a Jewish cemetery.

In May this year, a series of Polish sites were targeted and stories published with fake quotes attributed to the commander of the US army in Europe, in which he was said to have ridiculed the capability of the Polish military.

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