Connect with us

Hi, what are you looking for?

SecurityWeekSecurityWeek

Cybercrime

French Authorities Warn Against Spreading Leaked Macron Data

French electoral authorities took a hard line Saturday on a hacking attack targeting presidential frontrunner Emmanuel Macron’s campaign, saying anyone who circulates the leaked information could be committing a “criminal offence”.

French electoral authorities took a hard line Saturday on a hacking attack targeting presidential frontrunner Emmanuel Macron’s campaign, saying anyone who circulates the leaked information could be committing a “criminal offence”.

The electoral commission met following the announcement Friday by the pro-EU centrist’s team that his campaign had been the target of a “massive and coordinated hacking attack” after a flood of internal documents were released online a day before the election.

“The dissemination of such data, which have been fraudulently obtained and in all likelihood may have been mingled with false information, is liable to be classified as a criminal offence,” a commission statement said.

The documents spread on social media just before midnight on Friday — when 39-year-old Macron and his far-right rival Marine Le Pen officially wrapped up campaigning for Sunday’s decisive run-off vote — with his aides calling the leak “unprecedented in a French electoral campaign”.

Macron’s team said the files were stolen weeks ago when several officials from his En Marche party had their personal and work emails hacked — one of “an intense and repeated” series of cyber-attacks against Macron since the launch of the campaign.

“On the eve of the most important election for our institutions, the commission calls on all those on websites and social media… not to spread this information,” the statement said. 

Written By

AFP 2023

Click to comment

Trending

Daily Briefing Newsletter

Subscribe to the SecurityWeek Email Briefing to stay informed on the latest threats, trends, and technology, along with insightful columns from industry experts.

Join this event as we dive into threat hunting tools and frameworks, and explore value of threat intelligence data in the defender’s security stack.

Register

Learn how integrating BAS and Automated Penetration Testing empowers security teams to quickly identify and validate threats, enabling prompt response and remediation.

Register

People on the Move

Madhu Gottumukkala has been named Deputy Director of the cybersecurity agency CISA.

Wendi Whitmore has taken the role of Chief Security Intelligence Officer at Palo Alto Networks.

Phil Venables, former CISO of Google Cloud, has joined Ballistic Ventures as a Venture Partner.

More People On The Move

Expert Insights

Daily Briefing Newsletter

Subscribe to the SecurityWeek Email Briefing to stay informed on the latest cybersecurity news, threats, and expert insights. Unsubscribe at any time.