French Government departments targeted by historic cyberattacks

TLDR:

• French Government departments experienced unprecedented cyberattacks.
• Anonymous Sudan claimed responsibility for the attacks, utilizing denial-of-service tactics.

On Sunday, French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal’s office reported that several Government departments were targeted by cyberattacks of ‘unprecedented intensity’. By Monday, the Government had managed to contain the incident with the help of crisis teams from DINUM and ANSSI. The hacking group Anonymous Sudan took credit for the attacks, although the French government did not confirm this claim. The attacks were described as denial-of-service attempts, maliciously overwhelming web properties with traffic to disrupt normal operations.

The French government has been beefing up its cyber defences ahead of the Paris Olympics, following previous ransomware attacks. In December 2022, a hospital in Versailles experienced major damage due to a cyber attack, with operations being canceled and patients transferred as a result. The hospital faced additional threats of patient information being released on the dark web if a ransom was not paid. Despite not giving in to the demands, some health data was published online, exposing the hospital to further risks.

The French government’s efforts to combat cybercrime have been ongoing, with recent attacks highlighting the importance of cybersecurity measures in protecting critical infrastructure and sensitive data.