Macron hackers linked to Russian-affiliated group behind US attack

Security firms think group with ties to Russian intelligence behind leak of emails and other documents belonging to French election winner's campaign team

The hackers behind a "massive and coordinated" attack on the campaign of France's president-elect, Emmanuel Macron, have been linked by a number of cybersecurity research firms to the Russian-affiliated group blamed for attacking the Democratic party shortly before the US election.

Tens of thousands of internal emails and other documents were released online overnight on Friday as the midnight deadline to halt campaigning in the French election passed. According to the head of Macron's digital team, Mounir Mahjoubi, "five entire mailboxes" were "stolen", with many of the accounts being personal Gmail mailboxes.