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takyon [soylentnews.org] writes:

The campaign staff of Emmanuel Macron [wikipedia.org], one of the two candidates in France's presidential election run-off [wikipedia.org], claim to have been targeted by a massive hacking operation that leaked sensitive documents [nytimes.com]:

On the eve of the most consequential French presidential election in decades, the staff of the centrist candidate Emmanuel Macron said late Friday that the campaign had been targeted by a "massive and coordinated" hacking operation, one with the potential to destabilize the nation's democracy before voters go to the polls on Sunday.

The digital attack, which involved a dump of campaign documents including emails and accounting records, emerged hours before a legal prohibition on campaign communications went into effect. While the leak may be of little consequence, the timing makes it extremely difficult for Mr. Macron to mitigate any damaging fallout before the runoff election, in which he faces the far-right candidate Marine Le Pen, who has pledged to pull France out of the euro and hold a referendum to leave the European Union.

French authorities recently arrested a suspect who admitted to attacking the campaign website for the other candidate, Marine Le Pen [wikipedia.org].

Also at the Washington Post [washingtonpost.com], CNN [cnn.com], BBC [bbc.com], and Reuters [reuters.com].

Original Submission