The website of the French National Assembly has been blocked and inaccessible this Monday after suffering an attack by alleged pro-Russian hackers. In a protest message posted on Telegram, the hackers allude to the protests against President Emmanuel Macron over the pension reform and criticize French support for Ukrainian “neo-Nazis”, the usual term used by Russian propaganda to refer to Kyiv authorities.
The hackers’ claim of authorship appears the logo of the National Assembly, the photo of a bear – a Russian symbol – and a footprint of this plantigrade. Experts have little doubt that the sabotage action is originated by Russian pirates, in a context of periodic hybrid warfare and disinformation operations that Moscow carries out against the West.
In France, attention has already been drawn in recent days by the intensive monitoring that the Russian media have made of the riots during the demonstrations against the pension reform and the apocalyptic tone of the information. For Russian propaganda, interested in Western destabilization, it is important to dramatize as much as possible the internal problems of France, the only autonomous nuclear power among the countries of the European Union and a permanent member of the UN Security Council.
The type of attack that the French National Assembly has been the victim of is called a “denial of service.” The 504 error usually appears. Hackers clutter a website to prevent access. It is not a very sophisticated action and it does not involve data theft, but it does have a symbolic nature.
The French National Assembly has been one of the scenarios of the current political crisis, due to the approval of the pension reform by decree, without a vote in the chamber, and the subsequent rejection, by a narrow margin, of a motion of no confidence against government. The hackers’ attack occurs on the eve of a new day of mobilizations and strikes, the tenth so far this year. A poll released on Sunday showed that if there were early elections, the far right would significantly improve its results, at the expense of Macron’s supporters.
