Over 1,000 French sites hacked since attacks
The Local/AFP - [email protected]
Published: 15 Jan, 2015 CET.
Updated: Thu 15 Jan 2015 08:27 CET
Websites in France have been hit by self-described Islamist hackers in the week since Paris was hit by attacks on satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, internet experts have said.
Most of the hacks targeted relatively small sites operated by local government, universities, churches and businesses whose home pages were defaced with messages that included "There is only on God, Allah," "Death to France," and "Death to Charlie." Experts told AFP that "cyber-jihadist" hackers from North Africa and Mauritania have claimed responsibility for the hijacking of over 1,000 sites since the January 7 Charlie Hebdo attack, and have threatened a surge of activity on January 15. "For now it has been more cyber-vandalism than sophisticated, high-level attacks. We're not yet dealing with very structured groups," Francois Paget, an expert with software security company McAfee said. Because of that, according to other industry insiders, it was difficult to know what form the threatened hacking on January 15 might take. "On Thursday we may see, for example, attacks on higher-profile sites, organised group action, or a (complete) change of technique," said Gerome Billois, senior manager at computer consultancy Solucom. To limit the overwhelming burden on our moderators, it will not be possible to comment on this article. Feel free to join the conversation on our Facebook page.
Comments
See Also
Most of the hacks targeted relatively small sites operated by local government, universities, churches and businesses whose home pages were defaced with messages that included "There is only on God, Allah," "Death to France," and "Death to Charlie."
Experts told AFP that "cyber-jihadist" hackers from North Africa and Mauritania have claimed responsibility for the hijacking of over 1,000 sites since the January 7 Charlie Hebdo attack, and have threatened a surge of activity on January 15.
"For now it has been more cyber-vandalism than sophisticated, high-level attacks. We're not yet dealing with very structured groups," Francois Paget, an expert with software security company McAfee said.
Because of that, according to other industry insiders, it was difficult to know what form the threatened hacking on January 15 might take.
"On Thursday we may see, for example, attacks on higher-profile sites, organised group action, or a (complete) change of technique," said Gerome Billois, senior manager at computer consultancy Solucom.
To limit the overwhelming burden on our moderators, it will not be possible to comment on this article. Feel free to join the conversation on our Facebook page.
Join the conversation in our comments section below. Share your own views and experience and if you have a question or suggestion for our journalists then email us at [email protected].
Please keep comments civil, constructive and on topic – and make sure to read our terms of use before getting involved.
Please log in here to leave a comment.