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The
agency, known as the Federal Office for the Protection of the
Constitution (BfV), said a hacker group known as "Sofacy" was
behind the attack.
"The BfV has indications that it is being steered by the Russian
state and has been monitoring it for years," the agency said in
a statement.
The unusually strong comments come at a time when relations
between Berlin and Moscow have sunk to their lowest point since
the end of the Cold War following Russia's annexation of
Ukraine's Crimea and its intervention in Syria.
Hans-Georg Maassen, president of the BfV, said that government,
corporate and educational facilities in Germany were under
"permanent threat", with critical infrastructure in areas like
energy and telecommunications in particular focus.
"The campaigns that the BfV has observed in the past have
generally been focused on obtaining information, in other words
spying," Maassen said. "But lately Russian intelligence agencies
have also shown a willingness to conduct sabotage."
Earlier this week, security research firm Trend Micro said a
group of hackers that target critics of the Russian government
had been trying since April to attack the computer systems of
Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative party.
The attack on the Bundestag lower house, first reported in May
of last year, caused severe damage, forcing authorities to shut
down the computer system for days in order to repair the
network.
(Reporting by Noah Barkin and Sabine Siebold; Editing by Richard
Balmforth)
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