SAN FRANCISCO — The same Russian hackers who breached the email servers of the Democratic National Committee in 2016 are now focusing their attention on the European elections, according to a new report due to be published on Tuesday by the cybersecurity firm Trend Micro.

The report offers a two-year overview of a group of Russian hackers who are known under various names, including Fancy Bear, Pawn Storm, and APT 28. The group uses a variety of techniques but most commonly relies on spear phishing emails to trick their victims into allowing them into their systems. The emails, which appear innocuous but include dangerous malware, were how Russian hackers first made their way into the email servers of Democratic Party officials. The subsequent release of information taken from those servers, the US believes, was part of a Russian effort to influence the 2016 presidential elections.

Now, it appears they are using the same strategy to target the upcoming German elections.

“I think some of this activity is even happening today, some of these spear phishing emails are going out today,” said Ed Cabrera, chief cybersecurity officer at Trend Micro. In one screenshot Trend Micro provided to BuzzFeed News, the hackers appeared to be targeting the Konrad Adenueu Stiftung, a German think tank that is affiliated with the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party of German Chancellor Angela Merkel. The hackers set up multiple internet addresses that mirrored those of the think tank to trick people into entering their passwords and other information.

