The French government made its decision after the national cybersecurity agency warned of a high risk of cyberattacks.

Dark Reading Staff, Dark Reading

March 7, 2017

1 Min Read

France will not allow its 1.3 million citizens abroad to vote electronically in the June 11 and 18 legislative elections due to cybersecurity concerns, reports Reuters, quoting the French Foreign Ministry. This decision was made after the National Cybersecurity Agency issued an alert for an "extremely high risk" of cyberattacks.

"In that light, it was decided that it would be better to take no risk that might jeopardize the legislative vote for French citizens residing abroad," the ministry said.

French citizens abroad have been allowed to take part in legislative elections via electronic voting since 2012. They were not allowed to vote in the presidential polls, which are slated for April-May this year.

State-sponsored hackers were seen trying to disrupt the 2016 US presidential elections. French presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron has also alleged that Russian hackers are targeting him in favor of his pro-Russia rivals.

Read details here.

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Dark Reading Staff

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