France accuses Russia of a decade’s worth of high-profile cyberattacks

France’s President Emmanuel Macron attends a gathering with representatives of the sectors affected by US tariffs, astatine the Elysee Palace successful Paris, connected April 3, 2025. | Image: MOHAMMED BADRA/POOL/AFP via Getty Images

In an unprecedented show of diplomatic aggression, French authorities publically accused Russia of sponsoring respective high-profile cyber attacks connected French entities for implicit a decennary to stitchery quality and destabilize the country. The incidents see everything from a faked Islamic State takeover of a French tv broadcast awesome successful 2015 to the leak of President Emmanuel Macron’s emails successful 2017.

On Tuesday, France’s Foreign Ministry formally attributed those cyberattacks and respective others to APT28, a Russian subject quality (GRU) hacking portion besides known arsenic Fancy Bear, champion known successful America for leaking Hillary Clinton’s emails during the 2016 U.S. statesmanlike predetermination and sustained cyberattacks connected U.S. governmental operations. APT28’s activities successful France followed the aforesaid playbook:  the “Macron leaks” were published the time earlier France’s statesmanlike predetermination successful the hopes of swaying voters, and the faked ISIS broadcast hijacking, which took spot successful the aftermath of the 2015 Bataclan violent attacks, were intended to “create a panic successful France.” 

According to the French government, the GRU has escalated its cyberattacks against France and different members of the European Union since 2021, soon earlier Russia invaded Ukraine. (Ukraine itself has been a longtime frequent people of Russian cyberwarfare.) The intrusions targeted entities not conscionable successful government, but besides successful finance, aerospace and defense, sports organizations affiliated with the 2024 Paris Olympics, deliberation tanks, and the media. To show its ain cyber defence capacities, France revealed the geographical determination of 1 of APT28’s units – a awesome that its operators were capable to hint the origins of Russian cyber incursions.

This is the archetypal clip France has publically attributed a cyber onslaught to a overseas government’s quality service, according to Le Monde. The diplomatic situation has shifted profoundly, however: Vladimir Putin refuses to extremity his years-long penetration of Ukraine without getting to support the territory he’s seized – an untenable presumption for some Ukraine and the EU, which views Russian territorial gains arsenic a menace to the EU’s geopolitical integrity. Russian cyberattacks airs an further threat, some to their nationalist information apparatus and predetermination integrity.
In an interrogation the time earlier the Ministry’s nationalist declaration, Macron told the media that helium believed that France and their Western allies – including President Donald Trump – would summation unit connected Russia “over the adjacent 8 to 10 days” to judge their terms. He besides announced that France and Poland would soon motion a “friendship treaty” that volition see associated efforts to combat Russian predetermination interference via cyberattacks and misinformation campaigns successful some countries.