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French Broadcaster TV5 Monde Recovers After Hacking French Broadcaster TV5 Monde Recovers After Hacking
(about 4 hours later)
PARIS — The French television broadcaster TV5 Monde was back on the air on Thursday, a day after hackers claiming to support the Islamic State militant group carried out a wide-ranging cyberattack on the network. PARIS — The French television broadcaster TV5 Monde was back on the air Thursday, a day after hackers claiming to support the Islamic State militant group carried out a wide-ranging cyberattack on the network.
TV5 Monde regained control of its social media accounts Thursday morning, and its website was back online. The network told Agence France-Presse that it was able to resume broadcasting normally around 10 a.m., except for live broadcasts and news bulletins, and that it hoped to be completely operational on all 11 of its channels by Thursday evening. The attack prompted strong reactions from the French government, which called on the nation’s media outlets to remain vigilant.
In a video published on TV5 Monde’s Facebook page early on Thursday, Yves Bigot, the network’s director, said that the “extremely powerful” cyberattack started at 10 p.m. on Wednesday. “All of our teams are working relentlessly to bring back your usual programs,” Mr. Bigot said. The network was able to completely resume normal broadcasting around 6 p.m. Earlier in the day, it regained control of its social media accounts and put its website back online.
A group calling itself the CyberCaliphate claimed responsibility for the cyberattack, using the same name as hackers who took over the social media accounts of the United States Central Command in January and hacked into Newsweek’s Twitter feed in February. In a video published on TV5 Monde’s Facebook page early Thursday, Yves Bigot, the network’s director, said that the “extremely powerful” cyberattack started at 10 p.m. Wednesday.
The claim of responsibility has not been confirmed, and French journalists who cover technology took care to note that it was difficult to determine whether the CyberCaliphate group was involved. The French Network and Information Security Agency, which operates under the authority of the prime minister to prevent and defend against cyberattacks, called the breach “serious” and said it had dispatched computer security experts to assist TV5 Monde.
Prime Minister Manuel Valls condemned the cyberattack on Twitter, calling it an “unacceptable attack on freedom of information and of expression.” “This morning we had sent four people, and in view of the situation, that team was strengthened,” said Clémence Picart, a spokeswoman for the agency. “Now we have 13 people on location who are with the TV5 Monde teams in order to understand the attack and put an end to it.”
The Paris prosecutor’s office said it had opened an investigation into the attack. A group calling itself the CyberCaliphate claimed responsibility for the attack, using the same name as hackers who took over the social media accounts of the United States Central Command in January and hacked into Newsweek’s Twitter feed in February.
TV5 Monde is a French-language television network based in Paris that broadcasts news, feature programs and movies globally. The culture minister, Fleur Pellerin, said that she would quickly meet with the heads of French media groups to discuss ways to prevent such attacks in future. The claim of responsibility has not been confirmed, and French journalists who cover technology noted that it was difficult to determine whether the CyberCaliphate had been involved.
Media organizations in France are appealing targets, said Damien Leloup, a technology writer for the French newspaper Le Monde, because of their prominence online. In January, supporters of the Syrian government were able to penetrate Le Monde’s Twitter account, and he said other media were likely to suffer similar attacks. Prime Minister Manuel Valls condemned the cyberattack on Twitter, calling it an “unacceptable attack on freedom of information and of expression.” The Paris prosecutor’s office said it had opened an investigation into the attack.
“If you can get on the Twitter account of Le Monde or Le Figaro or Libération, you have hundreds of thousands of followers, and you don’t have so many companies in France with such big networks, so those media are tempting targets,” he said. On Thursday evening, the culture and interior ministers met with the heads of French broadcasters to discuss ways to prevent such attacks in the future.
At a news conference after the meeting, the interior minister, Bernard Cazeneuve, said that many elements pointed to the idea that a “terrorist act” was the cause of the cyberattack. But he said it was too early to say who exactly had been behind it.
Fleur Pellerin, the culture minister, said the French media had to remain careful about potential flaws and vulnerabilities in their broadcasting and internal communication systems. “We cannot rule out that similar attacks might happen yet again, that they might already be planned,” Ms. Pellerin said at the news conference.
TV5 Monde is a French-language television network based in Paris that broadcasts news, feature programs and movies globally.
Media organizations in France are appealing targets, said Damien Leloup, a technology writer for the French newspaper Le Monde, because of their prominence online. In January, supporters of the Syrian government were able to penetrate Le Monde’s Twitter account, and he said that other media were likely to suffer similar attacks.
“If you can get on the Twitter account of Le Monde or Le Figaro or Libération, you have hundreds of thousands of followers, and you don’t have so many companies in France with such big networks, so those media are tempting targets,” Mr. Leloup said.
TV5 Monde was a particularly attractive target because it is widely watched in the French-speaking parts of Africa, and taking over its broadcasts and social media accounts could be a way to reach a large audience with a political message, Mr. Leloup said.TV5 Monde was a particularly attractive target because it is widely watched in the French-speaking parts of Africa, and taking over its broadcasts and social media accounts could be a way to reach a large audience with a political message, Mr. Leloup said.
Screenshots of the hacked websites and social media accounts of TV5 Monde showed banners reading “I am ISIS,” a reference to the “Je suis Charlie” slogan that became popular after the January attacks in and around Paris that left 20 people dead, including three gunmen, one of whom claimed links to the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL. In the week after the attacks, the French authorities reported a surge of cyberattacks by Islamist hackers against about 19,000 French websites. Screenshots of the hacked websites and social media accounts of TV5 Monde showed banners reading “I am ISIS,” a reference to the “Je suis Charlie” slogan that became popular after the January attacks in and around Paris that left 20 people dead, including three gunmen, one of whom claimed links to the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL.
A screenshot of TV5 Monde’s hacked Facebook page showed a statement purportedly by the CyberCaliphate group saying that President François Hollande had made “a great mistake” in supporting the American-led military coalition carrying out airstrikes against Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria. “That’s why Parisians received January ‘gifts,’” the statement said. In the week after those attacks, the French authorities reported a surge of cyberattacks by Islamist hackers against about 19,000 French websites.
The cyberattack came just as TV5 Monde had opened a channel devoted to French and Francophone lifestyle, which began broadcasting in Asia, North Africa and the Middle East on Wednesday. A screenshot of TV5 Monde’s hacked Facebook page showed a statement, purportedly by the CyberCaliphate group, that said President François Hollande had made “a great mistake” in supporting the American-led military coalition carrying out airstrikes against Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria. “That’s why Parisians received January ‘gifts,’” the statement said.
The cyberattack came just as TV5 Monde had started a channel devoted to French and Francophone lifestyle, which began broadcasting in Asia, North Africa and the Middle East on Wednesday.