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France says Russia’s military intelligence service used the APT28 hacking group to target or compromise a dozen French entities since 2021, including a sports organization involved in the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games. The French government also recalls APT28’s use in attempts to destabilize France’s 2017 elections. Those official claims establish targeting and attempted influence—not that APT28 disrupted the Games or changed an election outcome.
What did France say APT28 did?
On 29 April 2025, France’s Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs publicly attributed APT28 activity to Russia’s military intelligence service, the GRU. The ministry said: “Since 2021, this attack group has been used to target or compromise a dozen French entities.” It described those entities as including public services, private companies, and a sports organization involved in the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
The statement does not name the sports organization. It also does not say that APT28 disrupted Olympic events, compromised Games systems, or affected the competition. “Targeted or compromised” covers activity directed at entities as well as successful compromise; it should not be read as proof that every target was breached.
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1Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problems2Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitches3Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsThe ministry also said the GRU had used APT28 in the 2015 sabotage of broadcaster TV5Monde and in attempts to destabilize the French elections in 2017. That is an official French government attribution. The statement does not provide a technical reconstruction of the election operation, so it does not establish specific methods, targets, or effects on voters or results.
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What is established about the Games’ broader cyber threat?
ANSSI’s Cyber Threat Overview 2024, published on 11 March 2025, describes the Games’ visibility and attack surface as opportunities for attackers. It reports extortion, strategic espionage, and hacktivist destabilization activity in the Games’ cyber threat environment. ANSSI said none of those attacks had a notable impact on the smooth running of the Games.
That assessment concerns the wider threat environment, not only APT28. It is compatible with France’s report that a sports organization was targeted: an attempted or even successful intrusion against an organization does not by itself demonstrate disruption to the event.
How do the cyber intrusions differ from information manipulation?
Cyber intrusions and information-manipulation campaigns are different kinds of operations, counted and documented by different French authorities. VIGINUM’s summary of the information threat to the Games, published by France’s General Secretariat for Defence and National Security (SGDSN) on 13 September 2024, says it identified 43 information-manipulation operations targeting the Paris Games during its monitoring period, from April 2023 through 8 September 2024.
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| Activity | What the official account establishes | What it does not establish |
|---|---|---|
| APT28 targeting in France | France’s foreign ministry said the GRU used APT28 against a dozen French entities since 2021, including a sports organization involved in the 2024 Games. | The sports organization’s name, or that APT28 disrupted the Games. |
| 2017 election activity | The same ministry said APT28 was used in attempts to destabilize the French elections. | A technical account here of the operation, its specific targets, or an effect on the election outcome. |
| Cyber threat around the Games | ANSSI reported extortion, strategic espionage, and hacktivist destabilization activity, with no notable impact on the Games’ smooth running. | That every incident involved APT28 or Russia. |
| Information manipulation targeting the Games | VIGINUM identified 43 operations over its April 2023–8 September 2024 monitoring period; most were opportunistic, and two were coordinated, planned campaigns. | That the full set was Russian or attributable to APT28. |
Do the 2024 elections belong in this story?
The Paris Games followed European and snap legislative elections, a context VIGINUM notes in describing the information environment. But that timing does not connect the 2017 election activity cited by the foreign ministry to France’s 2024 votes. The sources described here do not establish that APT28 targeted or influenced those 2024 elections.
What does ANSSI’s separate edge-device statistic mean?
ANSSI said that over half of its cyberdefence operations in 2024—its highest level of incident-response engagement—were prompted by vulnerabilities in security edge devices. This is a statistic about ANSSI’s 2024 operations overall. It is not the share of attacks on the Olympics, nor a measurement of the APT28 campaign.
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In a separate report announcement dated 13 July 2026, ANSSI attributed the Turla intrusion set to the FSB’s 16th Centre and described targeting and compromise of French entities since 2010. ANSSI listed diplomatic, defence, justice, and technology interests among affected sectors, including Ministry of the Armed Forces email accounts, the French embassy network in Moscow, and a justice-sector entity.
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