Last year, whistleblower organization WikiLeaks was mainly focused on the U.S. presidential elections, revealing classified material about the Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, which eventually determined the outcome of this political event. Apparently, Julian Assange´s group might be targeting right now the French election, although it remains unclear which could be the intentions behind this action.
WikiLeaks Has Classified Documents Of French Elections´ Candidates
On Tuesday, WikiLeaks´ stated through its Twitter account that it has on its archive more than 3,000 documents on the conservative candidate Francois Fillon and 1,138 dossiers on the right-wing hardliner candidate Marine Le Pen. Unlike what happened with the U.S. presidential elections, it remains unknown how the transparency radical organization get to access these classified documents.
What seems quite strange on WikiLeaks´ moves regarding the French elections is that the organization also targeted on its tweets Emmanuel Macron, a 39-year-old former economy minister who now leads his own political movement "En Marche!" ('On the move'). About this politician, WikiLeaks published a classified document from the U.S. State Department - apparently prepared for Clinton in 2012- in which it described him as a banker in mergers and acquisitions at Rothschild banks in Paris, adding that he could become the top civil servant at the Finance ministry in France.
France Would Have A Weak Cyber Security Structure
Regarding WikiLeaks´ moves, French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian explained that France is no less vulnerable to Russian interference than the U.S., which not only suggests that this nation could have a weak cyber security structure but could also be what the U.S. intelligence agencies claimed, the Kremlin could also be working with WikiLeaks in its actions on the French election.
In addition to a geopolitical threat that this situation represents, what seems concerning is how major governments are having serious difficulties preventing cyber strikes, which is something that many hackers and cyber criminals are taking advantage of. Although it remains unknown if WikiLeaks would influence the French elections in order to get a determined candidate elected, the undeniable fact is that Western nations are starting to see Julian Assange´s organization as Kremlin´s mercenaries.
