EU security officials are taking steps to counter efforts by Russian state-backed hackers to interfere in the European Parliament elections that will be held in May of this year. The vote comes at a critical time for Europe, not only because of the planned departure of the UK from the bloc. In many member states, the future of the EU is called into question by strongly anti-European populist movements and the unity of the bloc has also been undermined by the eurosceptic right-wing governments of Italy, Poland and Hungary.
“There’s a strong likelihood that people will try to manipulate the debates and falsify the European election results,” EU security commissioner Julian King said last week. Microsoft recently said it had detected cyberattacks against European think thanks and claimed that notorious Russian hacking group APT28, also know as Fancy Bear, was behind the operation. EU security officials are expecting more attacks of this kind in the coming months.
Read more: Eyeing Russia, EU Girds for Cyberthreats to Parliament Vote
