The website of the Federal Election Commission in Germany was briefly "
accessible
" only "in
a limited way
" at the end of August, a spokesperson said on Wednesday, raising fears of a cyberattack within two weeks of the legislative elections.
To read also In Germany, the heir of Angela Merkel lets go of his blows to avoid the announced defeat
"
At the end of August, the website of the Federal Election Commissioner was only accessible in a limited way for a few minutes due to a malfunction,
" said the spokesperson.
"
The problem has been analyzed and the technical concepts have been deployed accordingly
", he added, assuring that "
the information of the public
" by this site "
was and is guaranteed
".
Systems "have not been affected"
"
The computer systems necessary for the election itself were not affected, according to government sources
", quoted by the media Business Insider, at the origin of this information.
“
An important protection system had been put in place around the corresponding servers
,” adds Business Insider, citing, however, a probable cyberattack.
Read also Cyber attacks quadrupled in one year, says Florence Parly
The site "
Bundeswahlleiter.de
", where the official election results are published, was thus, according to Business Insider, "
bombarded with an extremely high number of requests
". “
The servers gave way under the data load and the website was temporarily down
,” he describes.
This question is very sensitive in Germany, which has feared for several months cyber attacks, led in particular by Russia, disrupting the September 26 poll, which must turn the page on the Merkel era.
On September 9, the federal prosecution had already opened an investigation into suspicion of cyber espionage of deputies by Russia.
The attacks are said to have targeted in particular the Chancellor's conservatives and her government ally, the Social Democratic Party (SPD).
The two parties are in a close race, with the SPD ahead of the chancellor's conservative party by a few percentage points.
Russia often accused
The European Union and the United States have regularly accused Russia of attempting to interfere in national democratic elections, which the Kremlin has consistently denied.
In Germany, the espionage cases in which the responsibility of the Kremlin is pointed out have been legion for several years.
Russia was notably accused of a large-scale hacking that in 2015 targeted the computers of the Bundestag and the services of Angela Merkel.
