An upcoming National Defense Council (CSAT) meeting will look at possible risks related to the IT infrastructure supporting the electoral process.

The agenda of the meeting includes "the analysis of possible risks to national security generated by the actions of state and non-state cyber actors on IT&C infrastructures supporting the electoral process," the Presidential Administration said.

The meeting was convened by president Klaus Iohannis on Thursday, November 28.

The CSAT meeting comes as civil society organizations have called for the state institutions to look into how Călin Georgescu was propelled as the surprise winner of the first round of the presidential elections, with roughly 23% of the votes. 

On Monday, November 25, the Presidential Administration told G4media that the president had not received any info from the state institutions about suspicions related to the promotion of Călin Georgescu on social networks.

The National Audiovisual Council (CNA) has said it was asking the European Commission to initiate an investigation into Călin Georgescu's electoral campaign on the platform TikTok, Stirileprotv.ro reported.

In its turn, the National Cyber ​​Security Directorate (DNSC) said the scope of its activity didn't cover monitoring social media accounts and investigating the tactics and techniques of propagating posts on social networks. It also said that, last year, at the request of the Cyber ​​Security Operational Council (COSC), it officially recommended that public institutions ban the app TikTok "due to significant cybersecurity and data manipulation risks, especially in the context of the risks of influencing public opinion and decision-making processes through social networks. These measures aimed to protect public infrastructure and were not related to monitoring posts on the network."

Romania will hold parliamentary elections this weekend, on December 1, and the second round of the presidential elections on December 8.

(Photo: Alberto Mihai/ Dreamstime)

simona@romania-insider.com