Romanian Presidential Election Undermined By Russia

Uploaded on 2024-12-09 in NEWS-Cybersecurity News, INTELLIGENCE-Hot Spots-Russia, FREE TO VIEW

Authorities in the EU member nation, Romania, have revealed details of what appears to be a major attempt to interfere in the country’s presidential elections using the social media platform TikTok, and a series of cyber attacks.

The Romanian Intelligence Service (SRI) disclosed that over 85,000 computer network intrusions were launched against election websites and IT systems throughout the first round of the NATO member state’s election process.

Based on the disclosure by the SRI, the persistent computer network intrusions are indicative of a state-sponsored cyber unit with considerable resources and capabilities at its disposal.

In consequence, Romania’s Supreme Court has moved quickly to annul the results of the first round of the presidential election. The Court has ruled that the first round process must be rerun and in a statement said the annulment was based on Article 146(f) of the Constitution, emphasising the need to ensure the correctness and legality of the electoral process. Romania's domestic intelligence service says there are signs the effort was "co-ordinated by a state-sponsored actor", which they clearly think is Russian.

Calin Georgescu, a critic of NATO who has previously praised Russian President Putin, was almost unknown in Romania until he won the first round of voting in the presidential elections. Georgescu, a pro-Russian candidate who wants to end Romania’s support for Ukraine amid Russia’s invasion, emerged as the front-runner on November 24 despite being a political outsider who declared zero campaign spending.

Now, Romanian intelligence agencies say that his sudden and surprise surge in popularity is down to a "highly organised" and "guerrilla" campaign on social media, sharing identical messaging and using influencers.They say it was conducted from "external locations" to bypass controls.

A separate intelligence assessment says that Romania has been identified as an "enemy state" by Moscow and a priority target for what it calls "aggressive hybrid actions".

The politically disruptive information, came into the public domain only a few days before the second round of voting, as a result of declassified documents published by the outgoing President, Klaus Iohannis. They reveal how paid content supporting Georgescu was promoted on TikTok, without being marked as election campaigning, in violation of the platform’s own rules and of Romanian electoral law.

Other candidates’ content was subject to strict controls and Georgescu insists that he spent nothing on election promotion, denying he was even campaigning. However. the intelligence documents released identify one TikTok account alone which they say made payments of $381,000 (£299,819) to users who were promoting Georgescu in the five weeks from 24th October,

The European Commission has ordered TikTok to “freeze and preserve data” amid the ongoing Romanian presidential elections and declassified intelligence “pointing to interference from Russia.”

The declassified documents released were all papers drawn up for a meeting of the security council following the first round of the presidential election. They also reveal that access data for electoral websites was stolen from legitimate users and published online “on cyber-crime platforms originating from Russia”. Separately, the intelligence agencies report some 85,000 attempted hacks in an attempt to access electoral data and change content, including on election day.

The report says the cyber-attackers used advanced methods to remain anonymous, working in a way and on a scale "typical of state-sponsored actors".

In comment, Craig Watt, an expert Threat Intelligence Consultant at Quorum Cyber said, "This recent event demonstrates that Russia’s ‘Information Confrontation Doctrine’ continues to form the foundation of Moscow’s strategic cyber targeting as influence assets capitalise on European political divisions to influence Western demographics in the direction of NATO-scepticism."

An investigation is ongoing to determine more details about the campaign and precisely who was responsible. "It will be critical for the western intelligence community to work together to combat these malign cyber operations that continue to attack the fabric of European democracy." Watt concludes.

Image: Ideogram

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