Russian Cyber-Influence in the 2017 European Elections

Wapack Labs assess with high confidence that Russia is behind influence campaigns to support right-wing nationalist candidates in Dutch, French, and German national elections who are campaigning on anti-immigration platforms, reducing participation in the European Union (EU) and NATO. The nationalist parties likely have little chance of winning a majority (medium confidence) in parliamentary elections or the second round of the French presidency; however, gaining seats provides them the opportunity to influence policy in a coalition government.

We assess, with medium confidence, that Russian cyber actors will conduct espionage and media manipulation operations to influence the outcome of each country’s election, but will modify the previous Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures (TTPs) used against the U.S. in 2016. Russian threat actors will dedicate additional resources to improving operational security to avoid discovery or blowback, and will avoid mimicking the tactics used in Ukraine and Montenegro...READ MORE

Wapack Labs has extensively reported on election interference in the past. An archive of related reporting can be found in the Red Sky Alliance portal.

TLP: AMBER
ACTOR TYPE: (VI)
SERIAL: PIR-00x-2017
COUNTRIES: Europe, NL, FR, DE, RU
INDUSTRIES: Gov, Political
REPORT DATE: 20170303