(Bloomberg) -- Finnish police are probing a cyber attack on a web service that publishes vote tallies less than a week before national elections.
The denial-of-service attack on the website took place last weekend, the National Bureau of Investigation said in an emailed statement on Wednesday. The suspected crime is severe interference with telecommunications, and a pre-trial investigation has just started.
There is no electronic voting in Finland. The attack didn't affect the voting process or the actual counting of ballots, and thus cannot have an impact on the election result, the police said. A similar attack on election night could seriously hamper the media's access to election results and undermine public trust in the elections. There's currently no suspect, the police said.
Finns vote in a general election on April 14, with polls open from 9 a.m. local time to 8 p.m. local time, when the results of advance votes cast April 3 to April 9 are disclosed. A full count is likely to be ready before midnight.
Read more on how Finland has prepared for the risk of election meddling
To contact the reporter on this story: Kati Pohjanpalo in Helsinki at kpohjanpalo@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Tasneem Hanfi Brögger at tbrogger@bloomberg.net
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