France, EU attribute Turla cyber attacks on French entities to Russia's FSB 16th Center

Published Jul 13, 10:00 AM UTC

On July 13, 2026, France and the European Union formally attributed a series of malicious cyber activities and cyber-espionage campaigns targeting French, Ukrainian, NATO, and EU entities to the 16th Center of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB). The attribution, led by France's Cyber Crisis Coordination Center (C4) with contributions from ANSSI, DGA, COMCYBER, DGSE, and DGSI, focuses on the use of the Turla attack method (TTP). Since the 2010s, Turla has been used to compromise French ministries (Defense, Foreign Affairs), diplomatic missions (including the French embassy in Moscow in 2018), justice sector entities, and technology firms. The announcement follows a similar attribution of APT28 to Russia's GRU in April 2025. France stated the action aims to hold Russia accountable and raise awareness of the ongoing hybrid cyber threat.

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