André Perret lives in Burgundy, he is not ready to forget this February 24, 2022. When all of a sudden, no internet connection. His small town, 30 kilometers from Nevers, is located in a white zone. A territory not covered by the mobile network.
André had no choice but to receive internet via satellite. But with the breakdown: no more connection possible, no more telephone either. André feels cut off from the outside world. An urgent call to make? He then has to take his car and go to the top of the vineyards to find 4G.
The operator then evokes a “general malfunction on the connection service”. The outage which affects several thousand customers throughout France could have gone unnoticed. Until last week, the European Union formally accused Russia: “This unacceptable cyberattack is yet another example of Russia’s irresponsible activities in cyberspace.”.
So what happened? On the very day of the Russian intervention in Ukraine on February 24, the American satellite network ViaSat, positioned above Europe, suffered a computer attack which affected all of Ukraine and, as a collateral consequence, Internet users in France.
But sometimes cyberattacks target France directly. Between the two rounds of the presidential election, the website of the presidential majority, En Marche, breaks down. Computer attack. Hackers create thousands of virtual machines that flood connections and break the server. Ultimate provocation: the word “Traitor” is even affixed to a photo of Emmanuel Macron.
An operation claimed by hackers from the Killnet group, described as pro-Russian by the American authorities. He criticizes France for its support for Ukraine.
In France, to counter this threat, the company Yes We Hack recruits hackers to detect flaws in computer systems. Some 35,000 virtuous hackers, white knights of piracy operate worldwide.
“Protect businesses and challenge the system we have in front of us”
For Guillaume Vassault-Houlière, founder of Yes We Hack: “We can have the same approach as the attacker to precisely protect companies and challenge the system we have in front of us”.
“Carry out actions in cyberspace to safeguard our interests”
The Ministry of the Armed Forces says it is going even further. Its spokesperson, Hervé Grandjean, affirms it: France “evolves in a context of growing cyber threats, but we have adopted an offensive computer fight doctrine and we assume to carry out actions in cyberspace to preserve our interests”.
Last Saturday, hackers from the Killnet group claimed responsibility for several cyberattacks targeting the Eurovision Song Contest. Without succeeding in preventing the Ukrainian victory.
Among our sources (non-exhaustive list):
– The unexpected damage of war: wind turbines hit by a cyber attack
– Gers: a network outage caused by a cyberattack affects Nordnet customers
– EU statement attributing the satellite attack to Russia (10 May 2022)
– Killnet: a group of pro-Russian hackers according to the American authorities
– Who tried to hack the Eurovision final?
– International tensions: reinforcement of cyber measures – Note from ANSSI
– The National Agency for Information Systems Security (ANSSI)