French authorities accused Russian military intelligence of being behind a series of cyberattacks against the country, including against President Emmanuel Macron's first presidential campaign. AP
Since 2021, a branch of Russian military intelligence (GRU) dedicated to such attacks has also targeted a dozen French entities including "defence, financial and economic sectors", the foreign ministry said.
"France condemns in the strongest terms the use by Russia's military intelligence service (GRU) of the APT28 attack group, at the origin of several cyberattacks on French interests," the foreign ministry said in a statement.
The GRU "has been carrying out cyberattacks against France for several years using a method known as APT28", Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said in a message on X, officially attributing these cyberattacks to the GRU for the first time.
APT28, also known as Fancy Bear, has been linked to dozens of global cyberattacks including the 2016 US election, where it was accused of aiding Donald Trump by leaking Democratic Party emails and those of the campaign of Hillary Clinton.
The group targets personal email accounts to retrieve data and emails, or gain access to other machines on a system.
In 2017, hackers hit the French leader's first presidential run, leaking thousands of documents barely 24 hours before the vote.
"In 2017, in the midst of the presidential election, APT28 participated in a massive hacking operation" with the "aim" of sowing doubt and influencing public opinion, France's foreign ministry said in a video shared by Barrot on X on Tuesday.
"Thousands of documents were stolen and disseminated in the hope of manipulating voters, but the manoeuvre failed to have any real impact on the electoral process," the video continues, referring to the 2017 leak.
Macron easily won the election in a second-round runoff against Marine Le Pen of the far right.
It added that entities in France attacked since 2021 include those "working in the daily lives of French people and include public services, private enterprises as well as a sport organisation involved in the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games".
In September 2024, several international intelligence services, including German authorities, warned of the risk of cyberattacks targeting NATO countries that Fancy Bear carried out.
"Alongside its partners, France is determined to use all the means at its disposal to anticipate Russia's malicious behaviour in cyberspace, discourage it and respond to it where necessary," the foreign ministry said.
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