Macron presidential election team repeats Russian hacking claim

The campaign team of French presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron claims it has been targeted by “phishing” attacks from Russian hackers. But an expert tells RFI there is insufficient hard evidence for the claim at this point.

Campaign poster of Emmanuel Macron Reuters/Gonzalo Fuentes

The claim follows a security firm’s report released earlier this week syaing the campaign was targeted last month by a group of Russian hackers called The Pawn Storm.

That group is suspected of links with Russian state services and is also accused of hacking the US's Democratic National Committee to undermine Hillary Clinton's presidential bid last year.

Macron has been critical of Russian’s foreign policy, while his rival Marine Le Pen has met President Vladimir Putin during the campaign period and called for closer ties with Moscow.

To read Le Pen and Macron, what's the difference? click here

Macron's team says it has faced several attacks since January but that they all failed to compromise any campaign data.

But Hadi El Khoury, an independent cybersecurity advisor based in Paris, told RFI there is little concrete evidence available at this point for the claims of Russian involvement.

To read our coverage of France's 2017 presidential election click here