Before the Olympic Games (JO) in Paris this summer, the European elections on June 19 will be “a considerable issue and target” for foreign manipulation.
This is what the Secretary General of Defense and National Security (SGDSN), Stéphane Bouillon, declared this Wednesday.
“Apart from the Olympics, we are very sensitive to what is happening today in Ukraine, and the European elections will be a considerable issue and a target for some of our foreign competitors,” he affirmed before the Defense Commission of the National Assembly, without naming any country.
The SGDSN, dependent on the Prime Minister, will organize on March 29 for all French political parties candidates for the European elections a meeting to raise awareness of so-called hybrid threats in order to address the risks of "cyberattacks, manipulation of information and of foreign interference.
The danger of hybrid threats
Concerning the Paris Olympic Games, the Secretary General specified that a series of exercises had been organized simulating “cyber attacks, attacks on transport”, as well as meetings on precautions to be taken in terms of telecommunications security. ahead of the event.
In recent weeks, Paris has openly denounced a series of destabilization attempts guided by Russia, aimed at undermining public support for the Ukrainian cause.
According to the Secretary General, hybrid threats are “those that we cannot attribute, that we do not see at first glance, whether they are cyberattacks, disinformation, offensives against our economic security ".
“These threats are increasing and can even cause us to lose the war before the adversary has shown a gun, this is the old principle of Sun Tzu
(author of “The Art of War”).
But
it's much quicker and much more effective in making us lose a war and sinking us,” he concluded.