Here's what a Russian GRU mobile Wi-Fi attack-in-a-trunk looks like

Dutch Ministry of Defense

If you think nobody ever *really* tries to hack Wi-Fi, there's now a remarkable demonstration that you are wrong. On Thursday, the Dutch government accused Russian GRU (military intelligence) agents of parking outside a government building with a rental car full of high-powered wireless hacking equipment -- hidden in the trunk of a rental car under a coat.

Pictures of the makeshift mobile hacking studio were released by the Dutch government, along with plenty of supporting allegations . The would-be hackers had recently used their equipment in Moscow, for example.

The building targeted by the hackers was important: It was the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons in The Hague, which was involved in investigating alleged poisoning of former Russian intelligence Sergei V. Skripal.

Several nations announced investigations against Russian cyberattacks simultaneously on Thursday, in a coordinated effort to draw attention to Russian state-sponsored hacking. This included the U.S. The Justice Department, which indicted seven Russian intelligence officers on charges of trying to hack into antidrug agencies in the United States. Three of the seven were also indicted by special counsel Robert Mueller for alleged interference in the 2016 election, though those charges are unrelated.

"To conduct their operation, 4 Russian intelligence officers had set up specialized equipment in the vicinity of the OPCW offices and were preparing to hack into OPCW networks," the Dutch government announced. "The 4 Russian intelligence officers entered the Netherlands via Schiphol Airport, traveling on diplomatic passports. They subsequently hired a car which they positioned in the parking lot of the Marriot Hotel in The Hague, which is adjacent to the OPCW offices.

Equipment was set up in the boot of the car with which the officers intended to hack into wifi networks and which was installed for the purpose of infiltrating the OPCW’s network. The antenna for this equipment lay hidden under a jacket on the rear shelf and the equipment was operational when DISS interrupted the operation."

Here are a few more pictures of the equipment used: