BRUSSELS (Sputnik) – France, Germany and the Netherlands may be subjected to hacking attacks in the light of the upcoming elections, EU Commissioner for the Security Union Julian King said Tuesday.
"I do not have the answer to the question. There is a risk and that is why it is important to highlight it and to take the measures, necessary to build resilience and [increase the degree] of preparation," King said, as quoted by l‘Echo newspaper, when asked if Russia could influence the results of the elections that are due to be held in France, Germany and the Netherlands.
The threats posed in the sphere of information security, have quadrupled over the past years and are expected to quadruple again by 2019, King said, stressing that it is highly necessary to talk about the threat, when asked about the lessons, learnt due to the alleged Russian cyberattacks carried out on the United States during the 2016 presidential campaign.
The federal elections in Germany, French presidential elections and Dutch general elections are due to be held in 2017.
On January 6, the US Intelligence Community released a report saying it had high confidence that Russia meddled in the 2016 presidential election. However, the report did not offer proof for the claims that Russia attempted to hack and influence the US election process.
Russia has repeatedly denied the US allegations calling them absurd and characterizing them as an attempt to divert public opinion from revelations of corruption as well as other pressing domestic issues.
