‘Hacking’ report refuted

PARIS: The US Embassy in Paris is "categorically refuting" claims in a French magazine report that the US government was behind a hacking attack against computers in the French presidency earlier this year.
The French government also dismissed the report in L'Express magazine.
The report says an attacker in May masquerading as a "false friend" of a presidential palace employee on Facebook duped the employee into giving up an internal passcode, then spread a worm on Elysee Palace computers — including one used by then-President Nicolas Sarkozy's chief-of-staff.



L'Express said the malicious code left a trail. The magazine said several unidentified sources pointed to "France's oldest ally: The United States" as the culprit.
The US Embassy countered yesterday that the report was not based on "proven facts."
FROM: THE ASSOCIATED PRESS