Russian hackers meddled in the U.S. election campaign. Now they’re turning their attention to Europe. France, Germany and the Netherlands are holding elections later this year, and experts agree with former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden that Moscow will try to sway the results. The voting infrastructure is expected to be relatively secure since all three countries use paper ballots. But here’s how Russian hackers (and others) could influence the outcome: The most common and successful election hacking strategy involves revealing embarrassing information about candidates, which could sway public opinion, say security experts. Hackers generally find this information using phishing — encouraging victims to click on malicious email links or download shady attachments. This allows hackers to gain access to a computer system where they can snoop around for dirt on candidates and their associates.
“In the U.S., the hacks were a result of phishing,” said Oren Falkowitz, co-founder and CEO of Area 1, and former director at the U.S. Army’s Cyber Command. “If there are to be hacks in the European political process, they will be as a result of phishing.”
Several cybersecurity experts predict Germany’s parliament is the likely next target for a Russian hack-and-leak campaign similar to the one suffered by the American Democratic National Committee.
Germany’s top IT security agency said it intercepted about 44,000 infected emails per month in early 2016, with attacks up fourfold compared to 2015. The agency said it caught about 20 “highly specialized attacks each day” on government networks.
Full Article: How Europe’s elections could be hacked – Jan. 25, 2017.