French issue alerte rouge after local governments knocked offline by cyber attack
(2024/04/12)
- Reference: 1712899805
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2024/04/12/french_municipalities_cyberattack/
- Source link:
Several French municipal governments' services have been knocked offline following a "large-scale cyber attack" on their shared servers.
The attack remains ongoing according to the city of Saint-Nazaire, one of the affected governments. "The services of the two communities cannot operate normally," the city told residents in an [1]alert , referring to both the city and agglomeration of Saint-Nazaire.
Other affected municipalities include Montoir-de-Bretagne, Donges, La Chapelle-des-marais and Porniche, as well as Sonadev and the Agency for the Sustainable Development of the Saint Nazaire Region.
[2]
"At this stage, the origin of the cyber attack is unknown, as is the duration," according to the notice, which said the city and agglomeration of Saint-Nazaire would post updates on social media and government websites as services resume.
[3]
[4]
While there's no word as to the nature of the incident, the outages follow a massive [5]distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack that flooded several French government websites with bogus traffic on March 11 and 12, but did not disrupt government services.
Anonymous Sudan [6]claimed to be behind the flood of network traffic. This is one of the several pro-Russia [7]second-rate hacktivist crews that emerged during the Russia-Ukraine war and reportedly has [8]ties to the Killnet gang .
[9]
Just days after the DDoS incident, France Travail – the government department responsible for registering and assisting unemployed people – disclosed a [10]huge data breach that exposed upwards of 43 million citizens' private information dating back 20 years.
Names, dates of birth, social security numbers, France Travail identifiers, email addresses, postal addresses, and phone numbers were compromised, according to the department.
[11]French government sites disrupted by très grande DDoS
[12]Record breach of French government exposes up to 43 million people's data
[13]Global taxi software vendor exposes details of nearly 300K across UK and Ireland
[14]Got an unpatched LG 'smart' television? It could be watching you back
A month earlier, massive data breaches at France's Viamedis and Almerys, two third-party payment providers for health care and insurance companies, leaked data belonging to [15]more than 33 million people .
The timing of these cyber attacks is worrisome for French officials, as the country [16]gears up for the summer Olympics – and anticipates a deluge of hacking attempts around the Paris Games.
French president Emmanuel Macron has warned he has " [17]no doubt whatsoever , including in terms of information," that Russia will target the Paris Olympics. Russian athletes will compete in the Games, but not under the Russian flag – the country has been banned from participating because of its illegal invasion of Ukraine.
[18]
Also this week, French cyber security officials visited Washington, DC, to consult with their American counterparts and cyber security firms on [19]Olympics-related cyber threats and how to avoid any disruptions from government-backed gangs and hacktivist crews. ®
Get our [20]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.saintnazaire.fr/cyber-attaque/
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_security/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2ZhkGPKJmZXS48Gx63GWQUwAAAA4&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_security/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZhkGPKJmZXS48Gx63GWQUwAAAA4&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_security/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33ZhkGPKJmZXS48Gx63GWQUwAAAA4&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://www.theregister.com/2024/03/12/france_ddos/
[6] https://t.me/xAnonymousSudan/808
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2022/11/08/fbi_hacktivists_useless/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2023/02/24/russian_cybercrime_economy/
[9] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_security/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZhkGPKJmZXS48Gx63GWQUwAAAA4&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2024/03/14/mega_data_breach_at_french/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2024/03/12/france_ddos/
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2024/03/14/mega_data_breach_at_french/
[13] https://www.theregister.com/2024/04/11/icabbi_database_exposure/
[14] https://www.theregister.com/2024/04/09/lg_tv_critical_bugs/
[15] https://www.theregister.com/2024/02/12/infosec_news_roundup/
[16] https://www.theregister.com/2023/03/24/al_surveillance_french/
[17] https://www.euractiv.com/section/global-europe/news/macron-says-he-has-no-doubt-russia-will-target-paris-olympics/
[18] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_security/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33ZhkGPKJmZXS48Gx63GWQUwAAAA4&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[19] https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/08/us/politics/france-cyberattacks-summer-olympics.html
[20] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
The attack remains ongoing according to the city of Saint-Nazaire, one of the affected governments. "The services of the two communities cannot operate normally," the city told residents in an [1]alert , referring to both the city and agglomeration of Saint-Nazaire.
Other affected municipalities include Montoir-de-Bretagne, Donges, La Chapelle-des-marais and Porniche, as well as Sonadev and the Agency for the Sustainable Development of the Saint Nazaire Region.
[2]
"At this stage, the origin of the cyber attack is unknown, as is the duration," according to the notice, which said the city and agglomeration of Saint-Nazaire would post updates on social media and government websites as services resume.
[3]
[4]
While there's no word as to the nature of the incident, the outages follow a massive [5]distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack that flooded several French government websites with bogus traffic on March 11 and 12, but did not disrupt government services.
Anonymous Sudan [6]claimed to be behind the flood of network traffic. This is one of the several pro-Russia [7]second-rate hacktivist crews that emerged during the Russia-Ukraine war and reportedly has [8]ties to the Killnet gang .
[9]
Just days after the DDoS incident, France Travail – the government department responsible for registering and assisting unemployed people – disclosed a [10]huge data breach that exposed upwards of 43 million citizens' private information dating back 20 years.
Names, dates of birth, social security numbers, France Travail identifiers, email addresses, postal addresses, and phone numbers were compromised, according to the department.
[11]French government sites disrupted by très grande DDoS
[12]Record breach of French government exposes up to 43 million people's data
[13]Global taxi software vendor exposes details of nearly 300K across UK and Ireland
[14]Got an unpatched LG 'smart' television? It could be watching you back
A month earlier, massive data breaches at France's Viamedis and Almerys, two third-party payment providers for health care and insurance companies, leaked data belonging to [15]more than 33 million people .
The timing of these cyber attacks is worrisome for French officials, as the country [16]gears up for the summer Olympics – and anticipates a deluge of hacking attempts around the Paris Games.
French president Emmanuel Macron has warned he has " [17]no doubt whatsoever , including in terms of information," that Russia will target the Paris Olympics. Russian athletes will compete in the Games, but not under the Russian flag – the country has been banned from participating because of its illegal invasion of Ukraine.
[18]
Also this week, French cyber security officials visited Washington, DC, to consult with their American counterparts and cyber security firms on [19]Olympics-related cyber threats and how to avoid any disruptions from government-backed gangs and hacktivist crews. ®
Get our [20]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.saintnazaire.fr/cyber-attaque/
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_security/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2ZhkGPKJmZXS48Gx63GWQUwAAAA4&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_security/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZhkGPKJmZXS48Gx63GWQUwAAAA4&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_security/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33ZhkGPKJmZXS48Gx63GWQUwAAAA4&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://www.theregister.com/2024/03/12/france_ddos/
[6] https://t.me/xAnonymousSudan/808
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2022/11/08/fbi_hacktivists_useless/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2023/02/24/russian_cybercrime_economy/
[9] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_security/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZhkGPKJmZXS48Gx63GWQUwAAAA4&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2024/03/14/mega_data_breach_at_french/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2024/03/12/france_ddos/
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2024/03/14/mega_data_breach_at_french/
[13] https://www.theregister.com/2024/04/11/icabbi_database_exposure/
[14] https://www.theregister.com/2024/04/09/lg_tv_critical_bugs/
[15] https://www.theregister.com/2024/02/12/infosec_news_roundup/
[16] https://www.theregister.com/2023/03/24/al_surveillance_french/
[17] https://www.euractiv.com/section/global-europe/news/macron-says-he-has-no-doubt-russia-will-target-paris-olympics/
[18] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_security/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33ZhkGPKJmZXS48Gx63GWQUwAAAA4&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[19] https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/08/us/politics/france-cyberattacks-summer-olympics.html
[20] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Potemkine!
Names, dates of birth, social security numbers, France Travail identifiers, email addresses, postal addresses, and phone numbers were compromised, according to the department.
Social security numbers are not valuable in France. They can even be retrieved from public information and it's illegal to use it as an identifier. Addresses are another matter, it will feed spammers databases.
French fried networks
HuBo
I totally missed this in the French Press (can't remember seeing it on the National TV News and 24/7 BFM or FranceInfo).
Saint-Nazaire (West of Nantes) hosts France's major shipyard [1]Chantiers de l'Atlantique , where not only the world's largest cruise ships were built (Wonder of the Seas, Harmony of the Seas), but also the Mistral class amphibious assault helicopter carrier that was eventually denied to Russia (formerly Sevastopol, eventually sold to Egypt as [2]ENS Anwar El Sadat ), as well as those submarines that Australia ordered before reversing itself and [3]"buying American" , iirc. One may say that Saint-Nazaire is to French naval works as Toulouse is to Airbus.
It'll be key (IMHO) for France and the EU to get to the bottom of what happened here (even beyond Olympics-oriented worries)!
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chantiers_de_l%27Atlantique
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ENS_Anwar_El_Sadat
[3] https://www.politico.eu/article/why-australia-wanted-out-of-its-french-sub-deal/
and ATOS to protect against this
"The timing of these cyber attacks is worrisome for French officials, as the country gears up for the summer Olympics – and anticipates a deluge of hacking attempts around the Paris Games."
Yes, there's that, plus, every counter cyber attack staff is on ATOS group payroll, which demonstrates, every day, that drunken lemurs are heading the company.
Interesting read for the french reading desk of El Reg: http://atos.bourse.blog.
Hint: this blog has top notch insider information, and even predicted at less than 1% precision, the amount of depreciation the company would publish in its late accounts statement for 2023. It has WAY better intel than any mainstream french press. Just saying as, as an (still) ATOS insider, I can appreciate the quality of those.
Anon, you know why :)