Cyberattack Disrupts France’s Postal Service and Banking During Christmas Rush

Paris: A suspected cyberattack disabled France’s national postal service and banking arm on Monday, blocking and delaying package deliveries and online payments at the height of the busy Christmas season.

Postal service La Poste said in a statement that a distributed denial-of-service incident (DDoS) “made its online services inaccessible.” It was stated that the incident had no impact on customer data, but package and mail delivery was interrupted.

At a Paris post office decked out with holiday wreaths and usually bustling this time of year, workers turned away angry customers lined up to send or receive packages, including Christmas gifts.

Customers of the company’s banking arm, La Banque Postale, were blocked from using the app to confirm payments or conduct other banking services. The bank directed approvals to text messages instead.

“Our teams were mobilized to quickly resolve the situation,” the bank said in messages published on social networks.

No liability claims immediately emerged.

This comes a week after the French government was the target of a cyberattack that disrupted the Ministry of Internal Affairs, which is responsible for national security.

In this case, a suspected hacker extracted several dozen sensitive files and gained access to police records and data on wanted people, Interior Minister Laurent Nunez told broadcaster France-Info. He accused the ministry of “lack of precaution” regarding the incident. French media reported that a 22-year-old person was detained.

Also last week, prosecutors said France’s counter-espionage agency was investigating a suspected cyberattack plot involving software that would allow remote users to control the computer systems of an international passenger ferry. A Latvian crew member remains in custody, accused of acting on behalf of an unidentified foreign power, authorities said.

France and Ukraine’s other European allies claim that Russia is waging “hybrid warfare” against them, using sabotage, assassinations, cyberattacks, disinformation and other hostile actions that are difficult to quickly trace back to Moscow.