French postal, banking services hit by new cyberattack

By Melike Pala

BRUSSELS (AA) - France's postal and banking services faced new disruptions on Thursday morning as a cyberattack temporarily rendered their websites and mobile applications largely inaccessible, French radio RFI reported.

"The laposte.fr website and all of La Poste's information systems are currently facing a cyberattack," a message on the postal service's homepage stated.

The website and mobile application of La Banque Postale, the post office’s banking arm, were also largely inaccessible.

The previous attack, a denial-of-service operation that overloads servers to slow or block access, began on Dec. 22 and continued until Dec. 26, unusually long for this type of assault. While it severely disrupted customers’ ability to track parcels, deliveries continued as normal.

The attack was claimed by the pro-Russian hacker group NoName057(16). La Poste filed a complaint, asserting that no data had been stolen, as denial-of-service attacks do not constitute an intrusion into information systems.

The Paris prosecutor's office has opened an investigation, assigning the case to the General Directorate for Internal Security (DGSI) and the national cyber unit.

Authorities also confirmed that the hacker group NoName057(16) claimed responsibility for the incident.