WTF?! Romania’s constitutional court docket has thrown out the outcomes of the primary spherical of the presidential election amid proof of doable Russian meddling by means of cyberattacks. There was additionally proof of an insidious social media affect marketing campaign.
It has been a wild journey for democracy in Romania currently. A declassified report from the nation’s Intelligence Service reveals that this yr’s presidential elections have been focused by over 85,000 cyberattacks originating from 33 nations on November 19.
The company mentioned the hackers accessed Romania’s central election infrastructure to change info and deny system entry. The dangerous actors used numerous vectors, together with SQL injection and cross-site scripting on voter registration web sites.
The hackers additionally leaked account credentials for these websites on a shady Russian hacker discussion board lower than per week earlier than the primary spherical of voting. The Intelligence Service believes the assaults have been state-sponsored because of the large scale and assets concerned.
Sadly, it does not finish there. A separate declassified Romanian intel report states that officers uncovered proof of a coordinated Russian affect marketing campaign on TikTok. The hassle favored Romanian presidential long-shot Calin Georgescu.
The report says over 100 Romanian TikTok influencers with a mixed 8 million followers have been paid to submit pro-Georgescu content material utilizing specified hashtags. The marketing campaign received significantly amplified round November 13, with Georgescu’s movies cracking the highest 10 trending by November 26. A few of the suspected TikTok accounts used for the marketing campaign have been years outdated however had been largely inactive till mid-November, once they instantly kicked into excessive gear selling Georgescu.
The Intelligence Service linked the dots again to Russia, noting textual overlaps between the Georgescu messaging and an analogous Russian-backed marketing campaign in Moldova. Bleeping Laptop notes that investigators consider Russia views Romania as a strategic adversary due to its NATO ties. Nevertheless, they did not explicitly title the nation because the perpetrator of the assaults.
With all this weighing on the election’s legitimacy, Romania’s high constitutional court docket determined to scrap the outcomes solely and name for a re-run. It is a pragmatic transfer however might shake public confidence within the electoral course of.
Picture credit score: Sasha Pleshco
