The Wall Street Journal stated that hackers associated with Russia massively cracked smartphones from NATO military forces stationed in Poland, Latvia and Estonia to obtain information about the strength of the alliance forces and other valuable intelligence.

They give several examples of such attacks. Thus, American Lieutenant Colonel Christopher L'Ereuu, who has held the post of commander on the NATO-based base in Poland, since July, said that once he returned from firing, he found that his phone had been hacked, and, according to him, from the Russian IP. No other evidence of Russian intervention, the WSJ interlocutors.

According to L'Ereu, at least six soldiers under his command hacked phones or accounts in social networks. He claims that Russia wants to intimidate NATO servicemen in this way by showing that it can track their location and know their passwords.

According to the WSJ, many NATO soldiers on the Estonian military base "Tapa" in January complained about "strange things" that allegedly occur with their phones. According to a certain officer, who is serving on this base, contacts of military personnel have disappeared from contacts.

Some NATO officials believe that the damage from such hacking can not be significant and they are aimed primarily at intimidation. Others note that hacked smartphones can be used to collect data, in addition, for example, from the commander's smartphone, you can send false orders to his subordinates. After similar incidents on some military bases in Estonia have forbidden to use smart phones, from them SIM-cards are deleted, and the Internet is authorized to use only in certain places.