The Government has activated all its available cells to fight against “the wave” of disinformation and cyber attacks of Russian origin that is expected in the European election campaign. The intelligence services of the State security forces and bodies do not harbor “the slightest doubt” that the opportunity will be taken advantage of – from Russian servers – to manipulate the voter and weaken public trust through subtle campaigns that undermine citizens’ trust in democratic institutions and processes.
It was the Ministry of the Interior that activated the Coordination Network for Security in Electoral Processes, which will enter the alert phase next Friday, with the start of the European election campaign. And although the protocol is still in the preliminary phase, police sources assure La Vanguardia that they are already investigating a possible incident of exfiltration of information – through a spy program – from the mobile phone of a candidate who is running on the socialist list. .
The field of action in which ministries such as the Interior, Defense or Digital Transformation and organizations such as the Department of National Security, the Cybersecurity Institute or the National Cryptology Center will be involved will be divided into two: on the one hand, the fight against cyber threats and on the other, the battle against disinformation campaigns. There is, according to all the sources consulted, greater concern about the second of the lands.
The cybersecurity teams of the different departments are trying to shield their portals to avoid attacks like the one that took down the Ministry of the Interior’s website in the 2023 general elections. Sources familiar with the incident explain that operators of Russian origin collapsed the portal by sending 600,000 requests for information – made on the ministry’s website through citizen service forms – in two minutes. An attack that was launched after the closure of the schools, in a context in which theories of manipulation in the vote count had been encouraged.
The National Cybersecurity Institute (Incibe) will be key in cyber defense during the elections, ensuring 24 hours a day for the digital security of the main entities and companies with active roles in these elections: political parties, companies supporting electoral processes and operators of critical services, as explained in a telephone conversation by its head of cyber crises, David Llamas. In focus, entities with their own name such as Correos, Indra or Ifema. During this period, telephone number 017, which centralizes all cybersecurity queries, will be operational 24 hours a day.
Llamas predicts that the greatest probability of cyberattacks or data exfiltration – which cause serious reputational damage – could be concentrated in the 72 hours prior to the opening of the electoral polls, but surveillance of data in open sources such as the dark web is already It is at full capacity, with some possible incidents having already been reported in the context of the campaign. A possible “misinformation event” is also expected between the closing of the schools and 11 p.m. on election day, a moment until which results will not begin to be known – something different from the rest of the elections in which the count is known beforehand. –. This period of time, as Llamas explains, can be used to launch a campaign that seeks to sow doubts about the recount and electoral fraud.
But the real battle will be fought in the field of disinformation, a task that will be coordinated by the Department of Homeland Security. Juan Miguel Velasco, director of Aiuken Cybersecurity, expects a barrage of orchestrated campaigns on social networks with videos that will exacerbate anti-European messages with classic topics such as immigration or aid to farmers. Velasco considers that, unlike the last elections in Catalonia, in which toxic information campaigns were barely detected, the European campaign will be plagued by them. And although any social network, messaging application or even video games can be the perfect fertilizer for misinformation, TikTok emerges above the rest, according to the cybersecurity expert.
