Sanctions over cyber threat

THE European Union can levy economic sanctions on anyone caught attacking EU states’ computer networks, foreign ministers said yesterday in the bloc’s latest bid to deter attacks following incidents in Britain and France.

With German national elections in September, interference in democratic votes is a concern for the EU after accusations of Russian meddling in the US presidential election last November and the French election in May.

EU foreign ministers agreed that socalled restrictive measures – including travel bans, asset freezes and blanket bans on doing business with a person, company or government – could be used for the first time. “A joint EU response to malicious cyber activities would be proportionate to the scope, scale, duration, intensity, complexity, sophistication and impact of the cyber activity,” the EU said in a statement.

US intelligence believes Russia hacked the presidential election and in Britain GCHQ has warned political parties to protect themselves against potential cyber attacks. The French government dropped plans to let its citizens abroad vote electronically in Sunday’s legislative elections because of the risk of cyber attacks.