US warned France about Russian hacking during election campaign
THE UNITED States watched Russians hack France’s computer networks during the election and tipped off French officials before it became public, a US cyber official has told the Senate.
France’s election campaign commission said on Saturday “a significant amount of data” – and some information that was probably fake – was leaked on social networks following a hacking attack on centrist Emmanuel Macron’s successful presidential campaign.
France’s government cyber security agency is investigating what an official described as a “very serious” breach. The leak came 36 hours before the nation voted on Sunday in a crucial presidential run-off between Mr Macron and far-right candidate Marine Le Pen.
The election commission said the leaked data apparently came from Mr Macron’s “information systems and mail accounts from some of his campaign managers”.
The data theft mimicked Russian hacking of the Democratic National Committee in the 2016 US presidential election.
Admiral Mike Rogers told the Senate Armed Services Committee: “We had become aware of Russian activity. We had talked to our French counterparts and gave them a heads-up – ‘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?’”
France’s chief cyber security body, known by the French acronym ANSII, declined comment on Admiral Rogers’s testimony.
Earlier, ANSII released a statement saying it had been assisting with the response to the hack since Friday and that the information technology fraud division of Paris’s police force had since been charged with investigating the breach.
Admiral Rogers also said the US 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”.