Pro-Russian hackers claim attack on French postal service operator

Professional-Russian hacker group NoName057(16) has claimed accountability for a cyberattack that disrupted France’s postal and banking providers forward of the Christmas vacation, French authorities stated.

France’s nationwide postal service La Poste stated on Friday that operations had been restored following a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) assault that started earlier within the week. Regardless of the disruption, the corporate stated 5.5 million parcels had been delivered by Wednesday afternoon, throughout what it described as its busiest interval of the yr.

The Paris prosecutor’s workplace has opened an investigation into the assault. France’s home intelligence company DGSI took over the probe after the hackers publicly claimed accountability. Prosecutors informed native media the investigation is, at this stage, centered on the deliberate disruption of an information processing service.

La Poste, which employs greater than 200,000 individuals, beforehand stated the incident quickly knocked key digital methods offline, affecting providers reminiscent of on-line parcel monitoring and slowing mail distribution. It stated there was no proof that buyer information had been compromised.

The disruption additionally affected La Banque Postale, La Poste’s banking arm, which warned clients that entry to on-line banking and its cellular app was quickly unavailable. Many of the providers had been restored on Wednesday. 

NoName057(16) emerged on the onset of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and is understood for launching large-scale DDoS assaults towards Ukraine and its allies. The group coordinates comparatively easy however disruptive assaults, typically with the assistance of a whole lot of volunteers, and has constructed a botnet of a number of hundred servers.

NoName057(16) has primarily focused European international locations, together with Poland, Czechia, Lithuania and Italy. Earlier in July, the group’s operations had been disrupted by worldwide regulation enforcement however the hackers proceed to function.

The incident follows a separate cyber intrusion disclosed earlier in December at France’s Inside Ministry, the place attackers gained unauthorized entry to e-mail accounts and confidential paperwork. French authorities later arrested a 22-year-old suspect in reference to that case.

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