TEHRAN, May 10, YJC - The United States watched Russians hack France's computer networks during the election and tipped off French officials before it became public, a U.S. cyber official told the Senate.
TEHRAN, Young Journalists Club (YJC) - France's election campaign commission said
Saturday that "a significant amount of data" — and some information that
was likely fake — was leaked on social networks following a hacking
attack on centrist Emmanuel Macron's successful presidential campaign.
France's government cybersecurity agency is investigating what a
government official described as a "very serious" breach.
The leak came 36 hours before the nation voted Sunday in a crucial
presidential runoff between Macron and far-right candidate Marine Le
Pen. The election commission said the leaked data apparently came from
Macron's "information systems and mail accounts from some of his
campaign managers" — a data theft that mimicked Russian hacking of the
Democratic National Committee in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.
"We had become aware of Russian activity. We had talked to our French
counterparts and gave them a heads-ups — 'Look, we're watching the
Russians. We're seeing them penetrate some of your infrastructure.
Here's what we've seen. What can we do to try to assist?'" Adm. Mike
Rogers told the Senate Armed Services Committee.
France's chief cybersecurity body, known by the French acronym ANSII, declined comment on Rogers' testimony.
Earlier Tuesday, ANSII released a statement saying that it had been
assisting with the response to the hack since Friday and that the
information technology fraud division of Paris' police force had since
been charged with investigating the breach.
Rogers also said the U.S. is still working on a comprehensive cyber
policy to counter what he called a "brave new world" in the cyber
domain. He said the United States is improving its ability to defend
itself, but "I would also tell myself, Rogers you are not moving fast
enough."
He said the U.S. needs to take tough actions against nation states
working to undermine American democracy. They need to be publicly
accused of the activity and the U.S. needs to make it clear to them that
this type of activity is "unacceptable and there is a price to pay for
doing this."