Macron Campaign Says It Was Target of ‘Massive’ Hacking Attack

[Nilly]

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/05/world/europe/france-macron-hacking.html

PARIS — On the eve of the most consequential French presidential election in decades, the staff of the centrist candidate Emmanuel Macron said late Friday that the campaign had been targeted by a “massive and coordinated” hacking operation, one with the potential to destabilize the nation’s democracy before voters go to the polls on Sunday.

The digital attack, which involved a dump of campaign documents including emails and accounting records, emerged hours before a legal prohibition on campaign communications went into effect. While the leak may be of little consequence, the timing makes it extremely difficult for Mr. Macron to mitigate any damaging fallout before the runoff election, in which he faces the far-right candidate Marine Le Pen, who has pledged to pull France out of the euro and hold a referendum to leave the European Union.

Wikileaks have links to some of the leaks. Check their twitter. They say they are not responsible (and that they do not know who is responsible). They have tweeted that it's potentially a prank by 4chan lol (because if there's one thing 4chan is good at, it's long-duration operations of targeted hacks of multiple staffers of a French politician. [/sarcasm]). Which is clearly BS.

Interesting that another candidate running against a Russia friendly opponent get's hacked, but as of right now it's just speculation. Le Pen's staff have also been targeted in separate incidents, so who knows:

Earlier on Friday, Ms. Le Pen’s campaign staff said its website also had faced “regular and targeted” attacks during the campaign.

It also said that the French authorities had investigated the attacks and, this week, arrested a suspect who was “close to extreme-left circles” and who had admitted to being responsible for several attacks on Ms. Le Pen’s campaign website. The arrest occurred on French soil, the statement said.

There has been an uptick in more advanced phishing tactics in general lately. Macron has said his campaign has already been the target of it in the past, and google have been having issues too. There could potentially be a link between the two?

Whatever the case, there are clearly people out there who have an interest getting hold of sensitive information and releasing it at times that could sway public opinion around election periods. It seems that this is the new norm. Welcome to the information age.

EDIT: The Macron campaign has issued a statement saying authentic docs have been mixed up with fake ones, "to sow doubt and disinformation". Full text below.

https://twitter.com/NPRKelly/status/860621148794605569

 

[Cardinal]

This all feels familiar to me somehow.

 

[PeteEU]

This all feels familiar to me somehow.

Yea and funny it never happens to the pro Putin candidate eh?

 

[Mac77]

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/05/world/europe/france-macron-hacking.html



Wikileaks have links to some of the leaks. Check their twitter. They say they are not responsible (and that they do not know who is responsible). They have tweeted that it's potentially a prank by 4chan lol (because if there's one thing 4chan is good at, it's long-duration operations of targeted hacks of multiple staffers of a French politician. [/sarcasm]). Which is clearly BS.

Interesting that another candidate running against a Russia friendly opponent get's hacked, but as of right now it's just speculation. Le Pen's staff have also been targeted in separate incidents, so who knows:



There has been an uptick in more advanced phishing tactics in general lately. Macron has said his campaign has already been the target of it in the past, and google have been having issues too. There could potentially be a link between the two?

Whatever the case, there are clearly people out there who have an interest getting hold of sensitive information and releasing it at times that could sway public opinion around election periods. It seems that this is the new norm. Welcome to the information age.

EDIT: The Macron campaign has issued a statement saying authentic docs have been mixed up with fake ones, "to sow doubt and disinformation". Full text below.

https://twitter.com/NPRKelly/status/860621148794605569

This is an example of biased liberal reporting and distortion of the facts

Le Pen is labeled "far right" while the guy that obama and the far left NYT likes is mislabeled a "centrist"

24/7/365 the lib news media never stops lying

 

[Verax]

This is an example of biased liberal reporting and distortion of the facts

Le Pen is labeled "far right" while the guy that obama and the far left NYT likes is mislabeled a "centrist"

24/7/365 the lib news media never stops lying

Is it possible Le Pen is actually far right and Macron is actually centrist?

 

[Tigerace117]

This is an example of biased liberal reporting and distortion of the facts

Le Pen is labeled "far right" while the guy that obama and the far left NYT likes is mislabeled a "centrist"

24/7/365 the lib news media never stops lying

Well, what do you think somebody who tried to downplay Vichy France's crimes' political stance really is?

 

[Mr Person]

This is an example of biased liberal reporting and distortion of the facts

Le Pen is labeled "far right" while the guy that obama and the far left NYT likes is mislabeled a "centrist"

24/7/365 the lib news media never stops lying

I don't think "the lib news media" is what never stops lying. Many entities never stop lying. Few literally always lie.

Le Pen is far right.

Obama and Macron are left-of-center.

Know who is much more accurately called "far left"? BERNIE SANDERS.

Except he's not as far left as Le Pen is far right, because Le Pen is a fascist in half-assed sheep's clothing, but Sanders isn't a straight up communist. He's socialist on a number of large issues, but not even entirely socialist as far as economics goes.







But hey, if all one has listened to is Fox/Breitbart/etc screaming for 8 years about how Obama is alternately (or jointly, depending on one's source) a socialist, a communist, a "Kenyan colonialist" (??), racist against white people, intent on making America a third world country, yadda yadda yadda crap smear lie, then I suppose one might be susceptible to thinking Le Pen is reasonable and Macron is far left. Doesn't excuse it though, imo.

 

[SheWolf]

My guess would be that either two people were behind it, Putin or Le Pen.

I hope the French people do not allow this to manipulate them. I hope we can learn how to mitigate these risks in the future. I also worry that if Russia can pull this off, they might be able to wreck some real havoc in a few more years.

 

[Blue_State]

I am 100% not saying this is a CIA op...but I am saying...didn't we just find out that the US government has the ability to make a hack look like the Russians? Just a fun moment of speculation.

Otherwise...not 4chan.

 

[Blue_State]

I don't think "the lib news media" is what never stops lying. Many entities never stop lying. Few literally always lie.

Le Pen is far right.

Obama and Macron are left-of-center.

Know who is much more accurately called "far left"? BERNIE SANDERS.

Except he's not as far left as Le Pen is far right, because Le Pen is a fascist in half-assed sheep's clothing, but Sanders isn't a straight up communist. He's socialist on a number of large issues, but not even entirely socialist as far as economics goes.







But hey, if all one has listened to is Fox/Breitbart/etc screaming for 8 years about how Obama is alternately (or jointly, depending on one's source) a socialist, a communist, a "Kenyan colonialist" (??), racist against white people, intent on making America a third world country, yadda yadda yadda crap smear lie, then I suppose one might be susceptible to thinking Le Pen is reasonable and Macron is far left. Doesn't excuse it though, imo.

What was the right wing policy that Obama championed?

 

[Renae]

Yea and funny it never happens to the pro Putin candidate eh?

Funny only Lefties seem to have bad IT and are dumb about IT Security.

 

[Quaestio]

Did Macron Outsmart Campaign Hackers?

"...part of the Macron campaign strategy against Fancy Bear was to sign on to the phishing pages and plant bogus information."

 

[PeteEU]

Funny only Lefties seem to have bad IT and are dumb about IT Security.

As an IT man, I know this is certainly not true Banks for example get hacked all the time.

 

[Mac77]

Is it possible Le Pen is actually far right and Macron is actually centrist?

I suppose if macron wins the far left can claim he is a centrist by french standards

But realistically he is as left as le pen is to the right

If she wins that makes her the centrist also, correct?

But the liberally slanted news media want to guard against her winning by labeling fer "far rght"

Most voters would call themselves centrists and if all they hear about le pen is that she is far right that helps macron