“A hacker using elementary computer equipment and what he described as “a few bits of knowledge that everyone is capable of finding on the internet” has succeeded in accessing confidential emails and personal files of Members of the European Parliament, their assistants and even the institution’s IT experts[…].” The hacker argued that the ease with which they succeeded called the democractic process into question.
The article considers the omnipresence of Microsoft, which the hacker exploited in their attack, in public institutions. “In 2008, French computer magazine PCinPact revealed that Microsoft had proposed to two French ministries a so-called “open bar” contract […]. The contract, to which Mediapart has gained access, was signed […] without invitation to any open public competition.”
“So just why do political deciders continue to give such a controversial firm the keys to such sensitive networks? “First of all there is the enormous clout of lobbyists,” said Isabelle Attard, an MP in France’s lower house, the National Assembly, member of the EELV Green party and who is active in defending free software production.“
“Frédéric Couchet, chief representative of April [an association for the promotion of free software], argued that the issue has become political. “The public authorities are financed by our taxes and free software should be an element of public service,” he said. “I hope that it will be one of the themes of the European elections.””
http://www.mediapart.fr/journal/international/211113/it-was-childs-play-how-hacker-broke-meps-secret-email-accounts