The European Union has announced two new sets of sanctions targeting entities and individuals involved in cyber espionage and the spread of pro-Russian propaganda.
The EU penalized two Chinese companies, one Iranian company, and two individuals for conducting cyberattacks against member states:
Integrity Technology Group (China): Sanctioned for providing tools that were used to hack over 65,000 devices across six EU countries between 2022 and 2023.
Anxun Information Technology (China): Penalized for offering “hacking services” aimed at critical infrastructure. The two individuals sanctioned are the co-founders of this company.
Emennet Pasargad (Iran): Punished for illegally accessing and attempting to sell a French subscriber database. The group also hijacked digital billboards during the 2024 Paris Olympics to spread disinformation and attacked a Swedish SMS network.
In a separate move, the EU sanctioned four individuals for actively spreading disinformation and manipulating information to support Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Sergey Klyuchenkov & Ernest Mackevicius: Russian broadcasters accused of using state television and radio to justify the invasion, call for violence against civilians, and spread false narratives.
Graham Phillips (British): Sanctioned for filming in occupied Ukrainian territories and interviewing captured British fighters to legitimize Russian aggression.
Adrien Bocquet (French): Penalized for amplifying Kremlin propaganda across European and Russian media platforms and social networks.
All sanctioned individuals and companies face severe restrictions, including:
Asset freezes within the EU.
A strict ban on receiving funds or economic resources from EU citizens and businesses.
Travel and transit bans preventing the individuals from entering EU territory.
With these updates, the EU’s cyber sanctions list now includes 19 individuals and 7 entities, while its list for Russian destabilization activities has grown to 69 individuals and 17 entities.
