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The Swedish government said Russian government-linked hackers attempted to disrupt the operations at one of the country\u2019s thermal power plants last year. Sweden said that, while the hackers were unsuccessful, hybrid attacks that extend beyond cyberspace are becoming more dangerous.<\/p>\n
Sweden\u2019s minister of civil defense, Carl-Oskar Bohlin, said during a press conference<\/a> on Wednesday that the attempted attack happened in early 2025 and attributed the incident to hackers with \u201cconnections to Russian intelligence and security services.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cPro-Russian groups that once carried out denial-of-service attacks are now attempting destructive cyber attacks against organizations in Europe,\u201d said Bohlin, as quoted by Bloomberg<\/a>.<\/p>\n Bohlin did not name the plant, but said the attack was blocked \u201cdue to a built-in protection mechanism.\u201d The minister said the cyberattack points to \u201criskier and more reckless behavior\u201d on the part of the hackers.<\/p>\n A spokesperson for the Russian government did not respond to TechCrunch\u2019s request for comment.\u00a0<\/p>\n This is the latest known attack on critical infrastructure linked to Russian hackers in recent years, as government hackers increasingly target energy and water systems with the aim of causing real-world disruption to public services.\u00a0<\/p>\n Before the attack on Sweden, Russia was accused of attempting to bring down parts of Poland\u2019s power grid<\/a> in December 2025. Earlier in the year, Russian hackers briefly hijacked a dam in Norway and opened floodgates that spilled millions of gallons of water<\/a> before the hackers were expelled from its computer systems.\u00a0<\/p>\n A cyberattack on a municipal energy company in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv in early January 2024 resulted in hundreds of apartments losing heat<\/a> for two days amid freezing temperatures. Researchers said some evidence pointed to the hackers operating from Russia, but that the attribution could not be confirmed.\u00a0<\/p>\n Prior to the most recent hacks, Russia was blamed for cyberattacks that caused widespread disruption to Ukraine\u2019s power grid in 2015<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n