Paris (AFP)

Microsoft reported Tuesday "significant cyber attacks", attributed to an entity associated with Moscow, against fifteen anti-doping agencies and sports around the world, shortly before a decision of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) on possible sanctions against Russia.

The US computer giant has "recently detected significant cyber-attacks", which have targeted since mid-September "at least 16 anti-doping organizations and sports, national and international," said Tom Burt, vice president of Microsoft in charge of security, on an official blog.

These attacks "come from a group we call Strontium," also known as "Fancy Bear" or "APT28," Burt said. "Some have succeeded, but the majority have failed."

The hacker group Fancy Bear was once associated with Russian intelligence and massive attacks on the United States ahead of the 2016 elections. Microsoft also blamed it in February for "a lot" of attacks on "democratic institutions." in Europe "before the spring European elections.

Using malware and methods such as "spearheading", recent attacks against anti-doping and sports agencies began in parallel with the opening by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) of a proceeding against Russia. Tom Burt.

WADA announced Monday that it hopes to decide by the end of the year on possible sanctions against the country, suspected of falsifying the electronic data of the former Moscow laboratory, at the heart of a doping scandal.

In January 2019, Russia had transmitted electronic control data to WADA, a condition that WADA had put in place to lift the suspension of that country in September 2018.

The scandal was provoked three years earlier by revelations about an institutional doping system in Russia between 2011 and 2015. But WADA opened a new procedure in September on "inconsistencies" in these transmitted data and could deprive the Russia of the next Olympiads.

In October 2018, the United States announced the indictment of seven suspected Russian military intelligence (GRU) agents following a worldwide campaign of cyber attacks targeting, inter alia, international sports bodies such as WADA.

According to US justice, medical records or sensitive anti-doping procedures documents were then disclosed to "Fancy Bear", which is considered to be controlled by the Russian intelligence services, before being made public as part of a campaign. misinformation.

© 2019 AFP