The Senate site “disrupted” by a cyberattack claimed by pro-Russian hackers

Access to the Senate website is “disturbed” Friday 5 May, by a “cyberattack of a certain magnitude”, according to an e-mail sent to all elected officials and their collaborators. “Our team is fully mobilized to remedy the malfunctions”, clarified the institution on Twitter. “This is obviously a denial of service attack, overwhelming the site with requests”commented a cybersecurity expert interviewed by AFP.

The pro-Russian hackers of the NoName group claimed responsibility for the attack on their Telegram channel on Friday morning, with a message in Russian and English criticizing Paris’ support for Kiev. “We read in the press that France is working with Ukraine on a new aid plan [face à l’invasion russe] which may include weapons, as well as statements by Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna, who brags that the authorities of his country spend taxpayers’ money on weapons”they write.

NoName, created in March 2022, is one of about 80 pro-Russian hacker collectives targeting institutions in countries that support Ukraine, according to Nicolas Quintin, chief analyst of the threat analysis team of Thales. France is one of their regular targets and has seen several such attacks in recent months. At the end of March, the site of the Assembly had been blocked for several hours by an attack claimed by NoName, for the same reason as that targeting the Senate. On Wednesday, the websites of several French town halls had also been targeted by Russian “hacktivists”.