The Swedish government has accused Russian government-linked hackers of attempting to disrupt operations at one of the country’s thermal power plants in early 2025, though the attack was ultimately unsuccessful.
Sweden’s minister of civil defense, Carl-Oskar Bohlin, disclosed the incident during a press conference on Wednesday, attributing the attempted attack to hackers with “connections to Russian intelligence and security services.” Bohlin warned that “pro-Russian groups that once carried out denial-of-service attacks are now attempting destructive cyber attacks against organizations in Europe.”
The minister did not identify the targeted plant but said the attack was blocked “due to a built-in protection mechanism.” Bohlin characterized the cyberattack as evidence of “riskier and more reckless behavior” on the part of the hackers.
The incident represents the latest in an escalating pattern of Russian cyberattacks on critical infrastructure across Europe, as government hackers increasingly target energy and water systems with the aim of causing real-world disruption to public services. In December 2025, Russia was accused of attempting to bring down parts of Poland’s power grid. Earlier that year, Russian hackers briefly hijacked a dam in Norway, opening floodgates that spilled millions of gallons of water before being expelled from the system.
A January 2024 cyberattack on a municipal energy company in Lviv, Ukraine, left hundreds of apartments without heat for two days during freezing temperatures. Russia was also blamed for cyberattacks that caused widespread disruption to Ukraine’s power grid in 2015.
A spokesperson for the Russian government did not respond to a request for comment.
Source: TechCrunch