Pro-Russian hackers attack France's postal service ahead of Christmas

The Associated Press, citing prosecutors, has reported that a pro-Russian hacking group has claimed responsibility for a large-scale cyberattack that halted parcel deliveries by France's national postal service a few days before Christmas.

Source: European Pravda, citing AP

Details: The Paris prosecutor's office said that after a statement by the cybercriminal group known as Noname057, France's domestic intelligence agency, the DGSI, took over the investigation into the hacking attack.

The group has been accused of other cyberattacks across Europe, including during a NATO summit in the Netherlands and against French government websites.

La Poste said that the central computer systems of France's national postal service were knocked offline on Monday 22 December as a result of a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack.

Postal workers were unable to track parcel deliveries, and online payments in the company's banking division were also disrupted. This dealt a serious blow to La Poste at the busiest time of the year. Last year, the company delivered 2.6 billion parcels and employs more than 200,000 people.

The incident occurred just a week after the French government was hit by a cyberattack that disrupted the work of the Interior Ministry. That attack led to the theft of sensitive police data, and a suspected hacker was subsequently detained.

Background: In November, ahead of local and regional elections in Denmark, the websites of several Danish political parties were hit by a cyberattack, responsibility for which was also claimed by pro-Russian hackers.

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