Cyberattack Disrupts France's Postal Service, Banking During Christmas Rush (apnews.com) 5
An anonymous reader quotes a report from the Associated Press: With just three days to go before Christmas, a cyberattack knocked France's national postal service offline Monday, blocking and delaying package deliveries and online payments. The timing was miserable for millions of people at the height of the Christmas season, as frazzled postal workers fended off frustrated customers. No one immediately claimed responsibility, but suspicions abounded.
What the postal service La Poste called a ''major network incident'' remained unresolved by Monday evening, more than eight hours after it was first reported. For a company that delivered 2.6 billion packages last year and employs more than 200,000 people, that's a big hit. La Poste said in a statement that a distributed denial of service incident, or DDoS, "rendered its online services inaccessible." It said the incident had no impact on customer data, but disrupted package delivery. Letters, including holiday greeting cards, could still be mailed and delivered. But transactions requiring tracking or access to the postal service internal computer systems were impossible.
The cyberattack also hurt online banking. Customers of the company's banking arm, La Banque Postale, were blocked from using the application to approve payments or conduct other banking services. The bank redirected approvals to text messages instead. "Our teams are mobilized to resolve the situation quickly," the bank said in messages posted on social networks. The disruption came a week after France's government was targeted by a cyberattack that targeted the Interior Ministry, in charge of national security.
What the postal service La Poste called a ''major network incident'' remained unresolved by Monday evening, more than eight hours after it was first reported. For a company that delivered 2.6 billion packages last year and employs more than 200,000 people, that's a big hit. La Poste said in a statement that a distributed denial of service incident, or DDoS, "rendered its online services inaccessible." It said the incident had no impact on customer data, but disrupted package delivery. Letters, including holiday greeting cards, could still be mailed and delivered. But transactions requiring tracking or access to the postal service internal computer systems were impossible.
The cyberattack also hurt online banking. Customers of the company's banking arm, La Banque Postale, were blocked from using the application to approve payments or conduct other banking services. The bank redirected approvals to text messages instead. "Our teams are mobilized to resolve the situation quickly," the bank said in messages posted on social networks. The disruption came a week after France's government was targeted by a cyberattack that targeted the Interior Ministry, in charge of national security.
Not such critical for Christmast (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Would have been a massive problem in Japan if it affected the New Years cards--but that tradition has largely died off in recent years. Yes, I, too, find it easier to send an email "agemashite". (Do repeated vowels qualify as a form of alliteration?)
Solution delusion? The postal services could make snail mail relevant again by having an opt-in database that maps email addresses to physical. Details cancelled for lack of interest and the timeout thing.
a cyberattack that targeted the Interior Ministry (Score:2)
The disruption came a week after France's government was targeted by a cyberattack that targeted the Interior Ministry, in charge of national security.
I summarise this second case for you: 22 y.o. Melvin L. from Saint-Sulpice-Laurière (800 inhabitants) who lived with his mother after interrupting his secondary studies during the COVID pandemic. Was previously judged from swatting, SIM swapping (in which several victims lost some thousands of euros). Melvin managed to get passwords to access "Pablo" and "Icasso", two portals used by police services. Using this access, he obtained codes that ultimately granted him access to police databases, where he c
Update: Russian hacker group claims it (Score:2)
According to the press, the pro-russian hacker group "Noname057(16)" claimed the attack on a Telegram channel.