Crossroads Blog | Institute National Security and Counterterrorism

Cyber Exploitation

U.S. Flames the French? The Hill/BBC

Julian Pecquet reported for The Hill on allegations that the U.S. hacked into the computers of the French presidency.  This allegation ran in a French magazine which said that the French computers “were compromised in May by a computer virus that bears the hallmarks of Flame.”  The French then pointed the finger at the U.S.  I find this kind of funny: when asked for comment, DHS Secretary Napolitano did not deny the allegation but gave a standard line about U.S.-French friendship.

In a later article, Pecquet again reported for The Hill and explained that the Obama administration “categorically den[ies] the allegations by unnamed sources that the U.S. government participated in a cyberattack against the French government.”

According to the BBC, the virus was found after the second round vote of the French presidential elections and was likely transmitted through Facebook.

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