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Dutch political parties' websites attacked on EU election day, Russian hacking group claims responsibility

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Dutch political parties' websites attacked on EU election day, Russian hacking group claims responsibility
Posters promoting the European elections are displayed in the House of Europe in The Hague, Netherlands, on June 6, 2024. (Pierre Crom/Getty Images)

The websites of three Dutch political parties came under attack by a Russian hacking group as the Netherlands kicked off voting for the European elections, Dutch media reported on June 6.

The Russian hacking group Hacknet claimed responsibility via a post on Telegram for the distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack.

"We continue to attack the websites of the Netherlands and its parties," Hacknet claimed.

The attack meant the websites of the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA), as well as the far-right Partij voor de Vrijheid (PVV) and Forum voor Democratie (FvD), were temporarily inaccessible.

"On Election Day, we consider this an attack on free, democratic elections. We are reporting this to the relevant authorities," CDA posted on X.

Before Hacknet claimed responsibility for the attack, far-right FvD party leader Thierry Baudet posted on X "Russians?" and a laughing emoji.

"The whole team is working overtime to repel the attack," he said.

The Netherlands is the first among the 27 EU member states to start voting for the European elections, with polling stations open on June 6. The results are not announced before June 9, once citizens in other EU countries have had the chance to vote.

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Starting on June 6, citizens of the European Union will head to the voting booths to elect the bloc’s 720-member European Parliament. The election, held between June 6 and June 9 and often downplayed as irrelevant by voters, will have a major impact on EU domestic and foreign policy, among
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Elsa Court

Audience Development Manager

Elsa Court is the audience development manager at the Kyiv Independent. She previously worked as a news editor at the Kyiv Independent and was an intern at the Kyiv Post in 2018. She has a Master’s in Conflict Studies and Human Rights from Utrecht University. Elsa is originally from the UK.

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