European Union Designated an Advanced Persistent Threat
Threat Actor Seeks to Degrade
Global Internet
APRIL 22, 2024 – The European Union has been designated an Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) group for its systematic efforts to undermine cybersecurity and fundamental capabilities of the Internet around the globe.
Advanced Persistent Threat groups are sophisticated adversaries that use multiple attack vectors to pursue malicious objectives over an extended period.
The European Union threat actor has repeatedly attempted to undermine Internet privacy, security, and utility. Attacks include efforts to backdoor encryption systems, shatter the iOS security sandbox, prohibit end-to-end secure messaging, arbitrarily censor “unwanted” digital speech, and preemptively restrict the use of generative AI. The European Union has aggressively tried to expand its attacks beyond Europe, and often masks its attacks as purported privacy and security protections.
“The European Union isn’t actually very advanced – they really have no clue about technology or how it works – but they are extraordinarily persistent in their efforts to undermine digital privacy and security not just in Europe, but globally.”
The European Union got its start as a threat actor with denial-of-service attacks through ineffectual and unnecessary cookie consent dialogs. Global acquiescence to that GDPR attack emboldened the threat actor to pursue a wide variety of additional attack vectors (aka “the Brussels Effect”).
In accordance with APT group naming conventions, the European Union threat actor has been dubbed “les fromages qui puent” (“Stinky Cheese”).