berlin german government officials security experts say see sign hack suspicious news leak ahead sept. 24 election despite months warn possible foreign meddle bsi federal cyber protection agency say keep close watch possible efforts influence election abroad well efforts close security gap discover widely-used vote-tabulating software indications new incidents attack connection federal election bsi spokesman say german government source confirm detect unusual activity note major leak email belong candidate emmanuel macron surface shortly france presidential election tyson barker fellow german arm u.s.-based aspen institute think tank say german political party agree play fake news embarrass information strong cohesion ... within german political class make sure impactful election result come pass barker say meanwhile vote gmbh maker vote collation software implement series bsi recommendations private researchers discover vulnerabilities software end july accord bsi officials vote decline comment problems first report month follow repeat warn berlin russia could try influence election major breach german parliament 2015 link apt 28 russian hacker group french u.s. officials also say moscow seek influence elections moscow deny effort sway foreign elections klaus poetzsch spokesman german federal election director say unclear exactly many 12,000 local communities use vote software office make clear election authorities must carry regular software update say vote plug big security hole identify lawmakers would likely undertake comprehensive review security possible reform requirement uniform certification process vote collation software election germans vote paper poll station mail advance ballot count enter computer system however news report early month cite concern vote collation software particularly lack authentication step result transmit barker call incident wake-up call german public paper mean end end protection throughout process far tabulate result say kevin bocek vice president security strategy threat intelligence venafi u.s.-based cyber security firm say hackers grow increasingly sophisticate attack often go undetected many months say surprise problems find vote software give use long get lot catch say lot investment lot effort go require keep adversaries poetzsch say around 200 employees federal election office would berlin wiesbaden day election manage vote process germany see sign cyber attack sept. 24 election