French TV network and its websites hacked by ISIL
TV5Monde ‘only able to air one show’ for several hours
PARIS // French television network TV5Monde was forced to broadcast only pre- recorded programmes for most of yesterday after an “unprecedented” hack by self- proclaimed ISIL militants, who also hijacked its websites and social networks. The Paris- based company, whose programmes are broadcast in more than 200 countries, was the target of an attack that is “unprecedented for us and unprecedented in the history of television”, TV5 Monde chief Yves Bigot said. The network did not resume full operations, including news programming, until 6pm local time yesterday, 18 hours after the attack was first launched.
For several hours, the network was only able to put out a single programme on all of its channels, Mr Bigot said.
“When you work in television and you find out that your 11 channels are down, of course that’s one of the most dreadful things that can happen to you,” he added. Authorities urged media companies to be “vigilant”, warning that further attacks could not be ruled out.
The hackers took control of the station and its social media operations on Wednesday, blacking out the TV channels and posting documents on its Facebook page purporting to be the identity cards and CVs of relatives of French soldiers involved in anti-ISIL operations, along with threats against the troops.
“Soldiers of France, stay away from the Islamic State! You have the chance to save your families, take advantage of it,” read one message on TV5Monde’s Facebook page, referring to the extremist group by its self- declared name. “The CyberCaliphate continues its cyberjihad against the enemies of Islamic State,” the message added.
Prime minister Manuel Valls said the hack was an “unacceptable attack on the free- dom of information and expression”, voicing “total solidarity with the editorial staff”. Senior government members flocked to the station to show their support, with interior minister Bernard Cazeneuve saying: “We are up against determined terrorists ... we are determined to fight them.” The hackers had accused French president Francois Hollande of committing “an unforgivable mistake” by getting involved in “a war that serves no purpose”.
“That’s why the French received the gifts of Charlie
Hebdo and Hyper Cacher in January,” it said on the broadcaster’s Facebook page, referring to attacks by gunmen in Paris on the satirical magazine and Jewish supermarket that left 17 people dead over three days.
France is part of a US- led military coalition carrying out airstrikes against ISIL in Iraq and Syria, where the extremist group has seized swathes of territory and declared a “caliphate”.
About 1,500 French nationals have left France to join the militants’ ranks in Iraq and Syria, where they represent almost half the number of European fighters present, according to a report released last week by the French senate.
Hackers have hijacked hundreds of French websites following the Charlie Hebdo attacks, but this latest attack was described as a “step up” by Gilbert Ramsay, an expert on cyberjihadism at St Andrews University in Scotland.
“For years now, low- level cyber attacks have been a routine part of Islamist mobilisation. They have published manuals on how to hack websites. But this is an escalation.”