France Confirms 12 Russian Cyberattacks, Targeting Macron's Campaign

France has formally accused Russia’s military intelligence agency, the GRU, and its affiliated hacking group APT28 (also known as Fancy Bear), of orchestrating at least a dozen cyberattacks against French targets since 2015, including a major breach of Emmanuel Macron’s 2017 presidential campaign. These attacks involved stealing and leaking thousands of campaign emails and documents, some of which were falsified, just before the election in an attempt to sway voters—a maneuver that ultimately failed to alter the election outcome. The French foreign ministry and cybersecurity agency ANSSI detailed additional GRU-linked attacks on national media, a Paris Olympics-linked organization, ministerial agencies, defense, financial, and economic sectors, as well as the 2015 TV5Monde hack where Russian operatives posed as Islamic State militants. French officials underscored that such actions represent a sustained campaign to destabilize France, with similar tactics previously used in the 2016 US presidential election. France’s public condemnation is part of a broader effort to counter Russian cyber operations and pressure Moscow amid ongoing tensions over Ukraine. The French government’s unusually direct attribution reflects escalating concern over digital threats to national security and democracy.