Pro-Russian hackers claim cyberattack on French postal service

Pro-Russian Hackers Disrupt French Postal Service Days Before Christmas

A significant cyberattack that crippled France’s national postal service just days before Christmas has been claimed by a pro-Russian hacking group, French prosecutors confirmed Wednesday.

The Paris prosecutor’s office stated that the cybercrime group known as Noname057 has taken responsibility for the attack on La Poste. In response, France’s intelligence agency DGSI has assumed control of the investigation, signaling the seriousness with which authorities are treating the incident.

The cyberattack, which began Monday, employed a distributed denial of service (DDoS) technique that overwhelmed La Poste’s central computer systems. As of Wednesday morning, the postal service was still struggling to fully restore its operations, creating significant disruptions during the busiest delivery season of the year.

The timing of the attack has been particularly damaging for La Poste, which handles approximately 2.6 billion packages annually and employs more than 200,000 people. The disruption has prevented postal workers from tracking package deliveries across France, while also affecting online payment services through the company’s banking division.

Noname057 has established a pattern of targeting European institutions and infrastructure. The group has previously been linked to cyberattacks during a NATO summit in the Netherlands and against various French government websites. Earlier this year, the hacking collective was the target of a major European police operation aimed at curtailing its activities.

Cybersecurity experts note that DDoS attacks work by flooding targeted servers with massive amounts of traffic from multiple sources, effectively rendering services inaccessible to legitimate users. While such attacks typically don’t result in data theft, they can cause significant operational disruptions and economic damage.

This incident occurs against a backdrop of what French and other European officials describe as “hybrid warfare” being waged by Russia against Ukraine’s Western allies. These tactics aim to create division within Western societies and undermine support for Ukraine in its ongoing conflict with Russia.

The Associated Press has documented more than 145 incidents that fit this pattern, including acts of sabotage, assassinations, cyberattacks, and disinformation campaigns. These hostile activities are increasingly straining European law enforcement resources and raising concerns about critical infrastructure vulnerability.

France’s digital security agency ANSSI has previously warned about the rising threat of state-sponsored cyberattacks targeting essential services. The country has been working to strengthen its cyber defenses, particularly for organizations considered vital to national security and economic stability.

The postal service disruption highlights the vulnerability of everyday services that citizens rely upon, especially during holiday periods. Analysts suggest that targeting such widely used services maximizes public impact and creates a disproportionate level of disruption relative to the technical resources required to launch such attacks.

La Poste representatives have assured customers that they are working around the clock with cybersecurity specialists to restore full functionality to their systems. The company has implemented emergency measures to prioritize critical deliveries while technical teams address the underlying issues.

This incident serves as the latest example of how geopolitical tensions can manifest in cyberspace, affecting civilian infrastructure far from traditional conflict zones. As the investigation continues, French authorities will likely coordinate with European partners to address the broader implications of such attacks on critical services throughout the continent.